System and methods for providing user generated video reviews

ABSTRACT

Methods and systems for content aggregation and distribution are described. Video content may be received from a plurality of sources. The video content may be associated with metadata identifying items included within the video content. A video player may be provided which enables video content to be displayed on a user terminal, and a control may be provided enabling the user to quickly navigate to specific portions of the video content. The video player may be embeddable. Tags associated with a given item of video content may be stored and accessed remotely from the system hosting the item of video content.

INCORPORATION BY REFERENCE TO ANY PRIORITY APPLICATIONS

Any and all applications for which a foreign or domestic priority claimis identified in the Application Data Sheet as filed with the presentapplication are hereby incorporated by reference under 37 CFR 1.57.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to content sharing, and more specifically,to providing user generated or produced video reviews of products and/orservices.

Description of the Related Art

The broad accessibility of internet, along with the increasingpopularity of affordable digital video recording devices has led to theproliferation of user generated videos shared over the internet. Thereis now an opportunity to leverage the popularity of user generatedvideos into a convenient, efficient, and entertaining method fordissemination of information regarding consumer goods and services.

U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/494,425 discloses a computer systemthat hosts a web site allowing users via the Internet to post videoclips, view video clips, or provide feedback regarding a viewed videoclip, wherein the computer system selects the most popular video clipsbased on certain criteria to make available to a video service provider.In one embodiment, the computer system transcodes the video clipreceived at the web site into a format compatible with a VOD systemassociated with a cable service provider, and generates the appropriatemetadata based on input from the user posting the video clip based inpart on values determined by the computer system and based in part ondefault values determined by an administrator. Subscribers to a cableservice provider can then select and view the video clips in the VODsystem by invoking a VOD service offered by the cable service provider.

U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/950,158 discloses a method for usein providing content that includes hosting a network site on a computernetwork, displaying on the network site links to one or more videos, anddisplaying on the network site at least an on-demand preview of a firstvideo in response to a corresponding one of the links being selected. Astorage medium stores a computer program for use on a client computer.

None of these disclosures, either individually or in combination,discloses the features of the present invention as claimed.

SUMMARY

The following presents a simplified summary of one or more aspects inorder to provide a basic understanding of such aspects. This summary isnot an extensive overview of all contemplated aspects, and is intendedto neither identify key or critical elements of all aspects nordelineate the scope of any or all aspects. Its sole purpose is topresent some concepts of one or more aspects in a simplified form as aprelude to the more detailed description that is presented later.

As referred to herein, the term “product” refers to an item sold to andused by a consumer. Embodiments described herein may be utilized withrespect to services sold to a consumer, and it is to be understood thatfor all instances of the term “product,” whether or not the term“service” appears with such instances of the term “product,” thedescription below applies to products and services, and may be referredto collectively as “consumable items.” One or more embodiments describedherein provide for a user generated video review platform. In certainexample embodiments, methods are embodied in software and distributedamong various devices in the client-server relationship existing betweena website server that handles multiple clients using various clientdevices. In an example aspect, certain embodiments provide a method forobtaining and publishing user generated video product reviews byreceiving a user generated video review, where the user generated videoreview comprises audio and video data featuring a reviewed product.

A video review (which may be in the form of a single item of videocontent, such as a single video file) may optionally include reviews ofmultiple items. The item reviews may be sequentially included in thevideo review file. For example, if a user goes on a shopping trip, theuser may then review each item purchased (or a subset thereof) in asingle video. A given item review within the video review file may betime stamped by the user via a user interface, the time stamp indicatingat what point in time in the video review file the review of the givenitem begins/occurs. Other techniques may be used to identify thelocation/position of a given item review within a video review. Forexample, a frame number may be identified as the point at which the itemreview for the given item begins. A control may be provided to the userat the same time the video review is displayed, where the user canactivate the control to indicate the start of an item review and/or toadd tags associated with the item review. Optionally, the user isprovided the option of uploading an image of the product before or afterthey have tagged the item. This image may optionally then be displayedin a scrubber area when the review is displayed to a user. Optionally,the tag and/or a user interface is provided via which the user canindicate which frame within the item review is to be used to representthe item review in future search results or the like.

An image from a given item review may be displayed in a scrubber area(e.g., an area including a scrubber bar or other control that a user canutilize (e.g., by dragging a scrubber control in a scrubber timeline) toindicate where the user wants the video playback to begin or to browseframes in the video, and optionally including an area adjacent to thescrubber bar). Thus, for example, the scrubber area may display imagesof items being reviewed in the video review file, where a given itemimage is displayed in the scrubber timeline at a location correspondingto where the review of the respective item begins. The item image may bea frame from the review of the item, such as, by way of example, thefirst frame from the review of the item. Optionally, other frames from agiven item review are not presented in the timeline when the scrubber isstatic, in that the scrubber control is not being manipulated by theuser or otherwise in motion.

An item tag associated with the reviewed item may be received from theuser posting the video review or a user viewing the video review. Theitem tag may be descriptive of the reviewed item (e.g., the tag may bean item name, a brand name associated with the item, afunctional/descriptive name, etc.). One or more user-assigned or othertags may be associated with the start of an item review. Optionally, aninterface may be provided via which the user can upload still images inassociation with the review, such as a still image of the item beingreviewed. Optionally, the still image of the item image may be aphotograph of the item, optionally uploaded separately from thecorresponding video review. Optionally, the interface may enable usersto provide one or more links to photographs or other images of the itemfrom other sites (e.g., other websites) to provide the image.

Optionally, the user generated video review is approved (e.g.,automatically by a posting system and/or manually by an administrator)if a set of criteria is met. The user generated video review ispublished (e.g., on an online video sharing networked site, an on linemedia property, a blog, a social networking site, in an advertisement,etc.). An incentive is optionally distributed to the user associatedwith the user generated video review.

A rich source of content for products and services reviews may beaggregated from users having adding to the collective of reviews,optionally motivated by an incentive, such as a payment, credit,discount, etc. Storage of the user generated video review can befacilitated through central or distributed databases, or by use ofremovable recording media or transmission to a user's client device,such as a laptop or smart phone or any device capable of receiving andstoring audio and video items received from a connected network or alocalized transmitter in the case of removable media. Product reviewsmay be generated in stores and other public places, some withoutconnectivity to a network so a user may manage his or her product reviewfrom a portable client device as the user moves between locations wherethe subjects of video reviews are found.

Certain embodiments optionally provide a polling feature enabling a userseeking product information to poll/ask members of a group selected bythe user (e.g., friends or contacts from a social networking site,contacts from a contact database, etc.) their opinions about the productor service reviewed in a video review (where the review may have beengenerated by the user or a third party). For example, the group may bepolled by asking the group members one or more questions to determinethe groups' views on the product or service, and the polling results arecommunicated to a user. For example, as the members of the group watchthe video review sent to them or referenced by the user, the individualmembers may submit ratings, submit textual, audio and or video feedbackor select opinions about different aspects of the subject of the review,to indicate their opinions regarding the item.

Certain embodiments provide an interface between a user and computer,wherein a user seeking product information is provided a control viawhich the user can submit a review. The control may be provided inconjunction with a display control showing a camera view as seen from aclient-side camera, such as found on client devices such as a laptop,smart phone, or other suitable client device, such as a camera equippedkiosk. By showing the user what a device camera is capturing (andoptionally playing audio captured by a device microphone), and providingthe “submit a review” control (e.g., a displayed button, sometimesreferred to as a “record a review” control), the user is informed that aproduct review recording session controlled by him or her is about tostart once they select the control. By selecting the control, the userbegins execution of a set of computer instructions that record auser-submitted review as directed by the user's interaction. Whilerecording the review, a similar control in appearance, having anindication to stop recording video and audio, thus terminating therecording of the user generated review, is presented to the user duringrecording of the review. When the user selects the stop control, therecorded review is presented to the user for review, and the user thenmay re-record the product review or submit it as a user-submittedreview. The user-submitted review may also be handled as other productreviews, and either transmitted across a computer network to a database,or stored locally on a client device. Once the review is uploaded to avideo sharing system (or before the video is uploaded), the user ispresented with an interface via which the use can tag each itemreviewed, optionally in association with an indication as to where theproduct review begins. Optionally, a control may be provided enablingthe user to upload the video to a third party site, such as a socialnetworking site or video sharing site, with some or all of the user'stags. For example, the video may be uploaded via an applicationprogramming interface (API) of the third party site, or otherwise.

Thus, certain embodiments enable a user to record, upload, and/or linkto a review video that pertains to the item that was being viewed by theuser, another item reviewed in the video review, and/or create a newreview video of items unrelated to what was reviewed in the video theuser viewed.

Some or all of the functionality described herein may be provided via avideo player which may be installed on or linked to a variety ofdocuments, such as webpages hosted on different web servers. Forexample, the player may be linked to, accessed via an applicationprogramming interface (API), and/or displayed embedded within editorialcontent (e.g., third party editorial content), within advertisements(e.g., optionally including banner advertisements, pre and/or post rollin a video), or elsewhere.

An example aspect provides a system for distribution of video reviews,comprising: at least one processing device; non-transitory memorystoring programmatic code that when executed by the at least oneprocessing device, cause the system to perform operations comprising:providing for display on a terminal of a first user a document includingan advertisement, the advertisement including at least text and anadjacent static image; at least partly in response to the first useractivating a playback control associated with the static image includedin the advertisement, causing at least in part a video player to playback a first consumer provided video review of at least a first itemassociated with the static image; providing, in association with thefirst consumer provided video review, one or more controls enabling thefirst user to: purchase the first item; indicate to other users that theuser wants the first item and/or store an indication in association witha profile of the user an indication that the user wants the first item;record a second video review for at least the first item; and/or pollothers to obtain feedback regarding the first item. Optionally, at leastpartly in response to an indication from the first user that the userwants to record a second video review for at least the first item,enabling the first user to record the second video review for the firstitem, enabling the first user to provide textual descriptive informationregarding the second video review for the first item and/orautomatically identifying textual descriptive information regarding thesecond video review based at least in part image recognition performedwith respect to at least a portion of one image associated with orincluded in the second video review, storing the textual descriptiveinformation regarding the second video review for the first item inassociation with the second video review.

Optionally, a third user may be enabled to access the second videoreview for the first item via at least one advertisement. Optionally,the first user may be enabled to record a review regarding a second itemdifferent than the first item via a control provided in association withthe video player. Optionally, at least one user is enabled to record avideo review regarding a second item different than the first item via acontrol provided in association with the video player, a user interfaceis being provided for display on the terminal of the at least one user,the user interface including one or more fields configured to receiveitem detail information regarding the second item and/or automaticallyidentifying textual descriptive information regarding the second itembased at least in part image recognition performed with respect to atleast a portion of one image associated with or included in the seconditem video review, the item detail information regarding the second itemin association with the video review regarding the second item isstored, and the video review regarding the second item and at least aportion of the item detail information regarding the second item isprovided to display to a plurality of users.

Optionally, the operations further comprise accessing metadataassociated with the first consumer provided review, and associating atleast a portion of the accessed metadata with the second video review.Optionally, the video player is configured to display in a scrubber areaa plurality of representative images selected by a given reviewer, theplurality of representative images corresponding to respective itemreviews included in a given video review. Optionally, the video playeris configured to display in a scrubber area a plurality ofrepresentative images selected by a respective plurality of reviewers,the plurality of representative images corresponding to respective itemreviews included in a given video review.

Optionally, the operations further comprise: receiving informationscanned from an optical code or a radio frequency tag associated with atleast one item included in a corresponding video review; populating oneor more detail information fields associated with the correspondingvideo review based at least in part on the received information scannedfrom the optical code or the radio frequency tag.

Optionally, the operations further comprise: receiving an indicationthat a third user is at a first physical location based at least in parton information provided by a mobile device of the third user;identifying one or more merchants in a vicinity of the third user'sfirst physical location; identifying one or more video reviews for oneor more items offered by the identified one or more merchants in avicinity of the third user's first physical location; providing thethird user with access to one or more of the identified video reviewsfor the one or more items offered by the identified one or moremerchants in the vicinity of the user's first physical location; andtransmitting information regarding one or more of the identifiedmerchants to the mobile device of the third user. Optionally,identifying one or more video reviews for one or more items offered bythe identified one or more merchants in the vicinity of the third user'sfirst physical location is based at least in part on an interestexpressed by the third user in at least one item and/or demographicinformation associated with the third user.

Optionally, the operations further comprise enabling, via an applicationhosted on the mobile device, the third user to record and tag a reviewof at least one item in a merchant establishment.

Optionally, the operations further comprise: providing for display on auser terminal of a third user a user interface configured to enable thethird user to provide a first video review for upload to the system or alink to the first video review; enabling the third user to specify arepresentative image corresponding to the first video review; enablingthe third user to provide a title for the first video review; enablingthe third user to identify representative frames for a plurality ofrespective item reviews included in the first video review; enabling thethird user to provide textual detail information for respective itemreviews in the first video review; storing: the first video review; thespecification of the representative image corresponding to the firstvideo review; the title for the first video review; the identificationof the respective representative frames for the respective plurality ofitem reviews included in the first video review; the textual detailinformation for the respective item reviews in the first video review;and enabling the first video review to be viewed via at least one videoplayer, the at least one video player configured to display: therepresentative image corresponding to the first video review; the titlefor the first video review; the respective representative frames for therespective plurality of item reviews in a scrubber area; and the textualdetail information for the respective item reviews in the first videoreview.

Optionally, the video player is configured to: detect when a first videoreview includes a first plurality of item reviews; access commentsprovided by users with respect to the first plurality of item reviewsincluded in the first video review; determine which item review in thefirst plurality of item reviews in the first video review is currentlybeing provided for display via the video player; cause the respectivecomments, for the item review determined to being currently provided fordisplay via the video player, to be displayed in a comments area,wherein comments for the items reviews in the first video review notcurrently provided for display via the video player are not displayed.

Optionally, the operations further comprise: selecting an advertisementto be displayed as an interstitial advertisement between two itemreviews; causing at least in part the selected advertisement to bedisplayed as an interstitial advertisement between two item reviews.Optionally, the operations further comprise: receiving a video reviewsearch query from a second user; identifying, from a plurality of videoreviews, a subset of video reviews, including the second video review,corresponding to the search query based at least in part on respectivetextual detail information associated with item reviews included in thesubset of video reviews; providing for display on a terminal of thesecond user search results including entries corresponding to at least aportion of the subset of video reviews, the portion including at leastthe second video review, wherein the search result entry for the secondvideo review includes at least a first representative image for an itemreview included in the first video review that corresponds to the searchquery; at least partly in response to receiving a selection by thesecond user of the second video review entry in the search results,causing the item review, in the second video review, that corresponds tothe search query to be played back to the second user via a video playerwithout first playing back an initial item review in the second videoreview that does not correspond to the search query.

An example aspect provides non-transitory memory storing programmaticcode that when executed by a computing system including at least oneprocessing device, causes the computing system to perform operationscomprising: providing for display on a terminal of a first user adocument including an advertisement, the advertisement including atleast text and an adjacent static image; at least partly in response tothe first user activating a playback control associated with the staticimage included in the advertisement, causing at least in part a videoplayer to play back a first consumer provided video review of at least afirst item associated with the static image; providing, in associationwith the first consumer provided video review, one or more controlsenabling the first user to: purchase the first item; indicate to otherusers that the user wants the first item and/or store an indication inassociation with a profile of the user an indication that the user wantsthe first item; record a second video review for at least the firstitem; and/or poll others to obtain feedback regarding the first item.The operations may further comprise, at least partly in response to anindication from the first user that the user wants to record a secondvideo review for at least the first item, enabling the first user torecord the second video review for the first item, enabling the firstuser to provide textual descriptive information regarding the secondvideo review for the first item and/or automatically identifying textualdescriptive information regarding the second video review based at leastin part image recognition performed with respect to at least a portionof one image associated with or included in the second video review;and/or storing the textual descriptive information regarding the secondvideo review for the first item in association with the second videoreview.

An example aspect provides a method, comprising: providing, via acontent distribution system, for display on a terminal of a first user adocument including an advertisement, the advertisement including atleast text and an adjacent static image; at least partly in response tothe first user activating a playback control associated with the staticimage included in the advertisement, causing at least in part a videoplayer to play back a first consumer provided video review of at least afirst item associated with the static image; providing, in associationwith the first consumer provided video review, one or more controlsenabling the first user to: purchase the first item; indicate to otherusers that the user wants the first item and/or store an indication inassociation with a profile of the user an indication that the user wantsthe first item; record a second video review for at least the firstitem; and/or poll others to obtain feedback regarding the first item. Atleast partly in response to an indication from the first user that theuser wants to record a second video review for at least the first item,enabling by the content distribution system: the first user to recordthe second video review for the first item; the first user to providetextual descriptive information regarding the second video review forthe first item and/or automatically identifying textual descriptiveinformation regarding the second video review based at least in partimage recognition performed with respect to at least a portion of oneimage associated with or included in the second video review; storingthe textual descriptive information regarding the second video reviewfor the first item in association with the second video review.

An example aspect provides a system for distribution of video reviews,comprising: at least one processing device; non-transitory memorystoring programmatic code that when executed by the at least oneprocessing device, cause the system to perform operations comprising:providing for display on a user terminal of a first user a userinterface configured to enable the first user to provide a first videoreview for upload to the system or a link to the first video review;enabling the user to specify a representative image corresponding to thefirst video review; enabling the user to provide a title for the firstvideo review; enabling the user to identify initial frames for aplurality of respective item reviews included in the first video review;and/or enabling the user to provide textual detail information forrespective item reviews in the first video review. The operationsoptionally further comprising storing the first video review, thespecification of the representative image corresponding to the firstvideo review, the title for the first video review, the identificationof the respective initial frames for the respective plurality of itemreviews included in the first video review, and/or the textual detailinformation for the respective item reviews in the first video review.The operations optionally further comprise receiving a video reviewsearch query from a second user, identifying, from a plurality of videoreviews, a subset of video reviews, including the first video review,corresponding to the search query based at least in part on respectivetextual detail information associated with item reviews included in thesubset of video reviews, providing for display on a terminal of thesecond user search results including entries corresponding to at least aportion of the subset of video reviews, the portion including at leastthe first video review, wherein the search result entry for the firstvideo review includes at least a first representative image for an itemreview included in the first video review that corresponds to the searchquery. The operations further optionally comprise at least partly inresponse to receiving a selection by the second user of the first videoreview entry in the search results, causing the item review, in thefirst video review, that corresponds to the search query to be playedback to the second user via a video player without first playing back aninitial item review in the first video review that does not correspondto the search query.

An example aspect provides a system for distribution of video reviews,comprising: at least one processing device; non-transitory memorystoring programmatic code that when executed by the at least oneprocessing device, cause the system to perform operations comprising:providing for display on a user terminal of a first user a userinterface configured to enable the first user to provide a first videoreview for upload to the system or a link to the first video review;enabling the user to specify a representative image corresponding to thefirst video review; enabling the user to provide a title for the firstvideo review; enabling the user to identify initial frames for aplurality of respective item reviews included in the first video review;and/or enabling the user to provide textual detail information forrespective item reviews in the first video review. The operationsoptionally further comprising storing the first video review, thespecification of the representative image corresponding to the firstvideo review, the title for the first video review, the identificationof the respective initial frames for the respective plurality of itemreviews included in the first video review, and/or the textual detailinformation for the respective item reviews in the first video review.Optionally, the video player is configured to display in a scrubber areaa plurality of representative images selected by a given reviewer, theplurality of representative images corresponding to item reviewsincluded in a given video review, wherein at least partly in response toa selection of a given image displayed in the scrubber area by seconduser, the video player plays back the corresponding item review.

An example system and method perform acts and operations comprising:receiving an indication that a user is at a first physical locationbased at least in part on information provided by a mobile device of theuser; identifying one or more merchants in a vicinity of the user'sfirst physical location; identifying one or more video reviews for oneor more items offered by the identified one or more merchants in avicinity of the user's first physical location; providing the user withaccess to one or more of the identified video reviews for the one ormore items offered by the identified one or more merchants in thevicinity of the user's first physical location; and transmittinginformation regarding one or more of the identified merchants to themobile device of the user. Optionally, identifying one or more videoreviews for one or more items offered by the identified one or moremerchants in the vicinity of the third user's first physical location isbased at least in part on an interest expressed by the third user in atleast one item and/or demographic information associated with the thirduser.

An example aspect provides a system for distribution of video reviews,comprising: at least one processing device; non-transitory memorystoring programmatic code that when executed by the at least oneprocessing device, cause the system to perform operations comprising:receiving, from a first user, a first video comprising a first reviewfor a first item and a second review for a second item; receiving, inassociation with the first video, a plurality of user submitted tagsincluding at least a first tag corresponding to the first review of thefirst item and a second tag corresponding to the second review of thesecond item; selecting, based at least in part on the user submittedtags, a first media file, wherein the first media file is not present inthe first video as submitted by the first user and the first media filecomprises at least an image of a third item; enabling the first video tobe displayed in a video player on the terminal of a second user; whereinthe video player is configured to: display in a scrubber area arepresentative image corresponding to the first review at a firstlocation and a representative image corresponding to the second reviewat a second location; detect a selection by the user of the firstrepresentative image or the second representative image, and in responseto a detection of a user selection of the first representative image orthe second representative image cause at least a portion of thecorresponding review to be displayed by the video player; optionallyproviding, in association with the first video and while at least aportion of first review of the first item is displayed in the videoplayer, one or more controls enabling the second user to: purchase thefirst item; causing, at least in part, the first media file to be playedby the video player between the first review of the first item, includedin the first video, and the second review of the second item, includedin the first video; providing, in association with the first media fileand while at least the image of the third item is displayed, at leastone control enabling the second user to purchase the third item; and atleast partly in response to the second user activating the at least onecontrol enabling the second user to purchase the third item, enabling apurchase process for the third item to be initiated.

Optionally, the operations further comprise enabling a third user toaccess the second video review for the first item via an advertisementcomprising a static, non-video, image; and/or receiving informationscanned from an optical code or a radio frequency tag associated with atleast one item included in a corresponding video review, populating oneor more detail information fields associated with the correspondingvideo review based at least in part on the received information scannedfrom the optical code or the radio frequency tag; and/or receiving anindication that a third user is at a first physical location based atleast in part on information provided by a mobile device of the thirduser, and identifying a first set of merchant facilities in a vicinityof the third user's first physical location, wherein the third user'sfirst physical location is not in the merchant facilities included inthe first set of merchant facilities, identifying one or more videoreviews for one or more items offered by the identified first set ofmerchant facilities, providing the third user with access to one or moreof the identified video reviews for the one or more items offered by theidentified first set of merchant facilities in the vicinity of theuser's first physical location, and transmitting location informationregarding one or more of the merchant facilities to the mobile device ofthe third user; and/or providing for display on a user terminal of athird user a user interface configured to enable the third user toprovide a second video comprising respective reviews of respectiveitems, enabling the third user to provide a title for the second video,enabling the third user to identify representative frames for aplurality of respective item reviews included in the second video,enabling the third user to provide textual detail information forrespective item reviews in the third video, storing: the second video;the title for the second video; the identification of the respectiverepresentative frames for the respective plurality of item reviewsincluded in the second video; the textual detail information for therespective item reviews in the second video; and enabling the secondvideo to be viewed via at least one video player, the at least one videoplayer configured to display: the representative image corresponding tothe second video, the title for the second video, the respectiverepresentative frames for the respective plurality of item reviews in ascrubber area, and the textual detail information for the respectiveitem reviews in the second video; and/or receiving a video review searchquery from a third user, identifying, from a plurality of videos, asubset of video corresponding to the search query from the third userbased at least in part on respective textual detail informationassociated with item reviews included in the subset of video reviews,providing for display on a terminal of the third user search resultsincluding entries corresponding to at least a portion of the subset ofvideo reviews, the entries comprising at least a second video, thesecond video comprising a third review of a fourth item and a fourthreview of fifth item wherein the third review precedes the fourthreview, and the second video is identified based at least in part ontextual detail information associated with the fourth review, whereinthe search result entry for the second video includes at least a firstrepresentative image for the fourth review, at least partly in responseto receiving a selection by the third user of the second video entry inthe search results, causing the fourth item review, in the second video,to be played back to the third user without first playing back the thirdreview in the second video review; and/or receiving a video reviewsearch query from a third user, identifying, from a plurality of videos,a subset of video corresponding to the search query from the third userbased at least in part on respective textual detail informationassociated with item reviews included in the subset of video reviews,providing for display on a terminal of the third user search resultsincluding entries corresponding to at least a portion of the subset ofvideo reviews, the entries comprising at least a second video, thesecond video comprising a third review of a fourth item and a fourthreview of fifth item wherein the third review precedes the fourthreview, and the second video is identified based at least in part ontextual detail information associated with the fourth review, whereinthe search result entry for the second video includes at least a firstrepresentative image for the fourth review, at least partly in responseto receiving a selection by the third user of the second video entry inthe search results, causing the fourth item review, in the second video,to be played back to the third user without first playing back the thirdreview in the second video review; and/or receiving at least one tagfrom a third party for the first review and storing the at least one tagfrom the third party in association with the first review. Optionally,the first set of merchant facilities comprises at least two merchantfacilities; optionally identifying one or more video reviews for one ormore items offered by the identified first set of merchant facilities inthe vicinity of the third user's first physical location is based atleast in part on an interest expressed by the third user in at least oneitem and/or demographic information associated with the third user;optionally the video player is configured to: detect that the firstvideo includes more than one item review, access comments provided byusers with respect to the first item review and the second item reviewincluded in the first video, determine which item review in the firstvideo is currently being provided for display via the video player, andcause the respective comments, for the item review determined to beingcurrently provided for display via the video player, to be displayed ina comments area, wherein comments for the items review in the firstvideo review not currently provided for display via the video player arenot displayed; optionally the first media file comprises a videoadvertisement, the video advertisement comprising the image of the thirditem; optionally the one or more controls enable the user to indicate toother users that the user wants the first item and/or store anindication in association with a profile of the second user anindication that the second user wants the first item.

An example aspect provides a system for distribution of video reviews,comprising: at least one processing device; non-transitory memorystoring programmatic code that when executed by the at least oneprocessing device, cause the system to perform operations comprising:receiving, in association with a first video comprising a first reviewof first item and a second review of a second item, a plurality of tagsincluding at least a first tag corresponding to the first review of thefirst item and a second tag corresponding to the second review of thesecond item; selecting, based at least in part on one or more of thetags associated with the first video, a first media file, wherein thefirst media file is not present in the first video as submitted by thefirst user and the first media file comprises at least an image of athird item; enabling the first video to be displayed in a video playeron the terminal of a second user, wherein the video player is configuredto display in a scrubber area a representative image corresponding tothe first review and a representative image corresponding to the secondreview; causing, at least in part, the first media file to be played bythe video player between the first review of the first item, included inthe first video, and the second review of the second item, included inthe first video.

An example aspect provides a method comprising: receiving at at leastone computer system comprising hardware, in association with a firstvideo comprising a first review of first item and a second review of asecond item, a plurality of tags including at least a first tagcorresponding to the first review of the first item and a second tagcorresponding to the second review of the second item; selecting by atleast one computer system comprising hardware, based at least in part onone or more of the tags associated with the first video, a first mediafile, wherein the first media file is not present in the first video assubmitted by the first user and the first media file comprises at leastan image of a third item; enabling, by at least one computer systemcomprising hardware, the first video to be displayed in a video playeron the terminal of a second user, wherein the video player is configuredto display in a scrubber area a representative image corresponding tothe first review and a representative image corresponding to the secondreview; causing, at least in part by at least one computer systemcomprising hardware, the first media file to be played by the videoplayer between the first review of the first item, included in the firstvideo, and the second review of the second item, included in the firstvideo.

An aspect of the disclosure is a system for distribution of videoreviews, comprising: at least one processing device; non-transitorymemory storing programmatic code that when executed by the at least oneprocessing device, cause the system to perform operations comprising:receiving locator information associated with a first item review of afirst item, the first item review comprising a video hosted on a thirdparty video content hosting site; receiving a first plurality of tagsassociated with the first item review from a source different than thethird party video content hosting site; storing, remote from the thirdparty video content hosting site, the first plurality of tags inassociation with the locator associated with the first item review;providing a user interface for display on a user terminal, the userinterface configured to enable the user to access the first item review;at least partly in response to the first user requesting the first itemreview, accessing at least a portion of the first plurality of tags andcausing one or more of the first plurality of tags to be displayed onthe user terminal in association with the first item review; providingfor display, adjacent to, but not overlaying the first item review, andwhile at least a portion of first item review is displayed in a videoplayer on the user terminal, one or more controls enabling the user to:purchase the first item; and/or indicate to other users that the userwants the first item; and/or ask other users to indicate their opinionof the first item; wherein the first item review is streamed from asource different than a source of the video player.

An aspect of the disclosure is a method for distribution of videoreviews, the method comprising: receiving at a computer systemcomprising hardware locator information associated with a first itemreview of a first item, the first item review comprising a video hostedon a third party video content hosting site; receiving at the computersystem a first plurality of tags associated with the first item reviewfrom a source different than the third party video content hosting site;storing by the computer system, remote from the third party videocontent hosting site, the first plurality of tags in association withthe locator associated with the first item review; providing a userinterface for display on a user terminal, the user interface configuredto enable the user to access the first item review; at least partly inresponse to the first user requesting the first item review, accessingby the computer system at least a portion of the first plurality of tagsand causing one or more of the first plurality of tags to be displayedon the user terminal in association with the first item review;providing for display, adjacent to, but not overlaying the first itemreview, and while at least a portion of first item review is displayedin a video player on the user terminal, one or more controls enablingthe user to: purchase the first item; and/or indicate to other usersthat the user wants the first item; and/or ask other users to indicatetheir opinion of the first item; wherein the first item review isstreamed from a source different than a source of the video player.

An aspect of the disclosure is a non-transitory memory storingprogrammatic code that when executed by a processing device comprisinghardware, cause the processing device to perform operations comprising:receiving locator information associated with a first item review of afirst item, the first item review comprising a video hosted on a thirdparty video content hosting site; receiving a first plurality of tagsassociated with the first item review from a source different than thethird party video content hosting site; storing, remote from the thirdparty video content hosting site, the first plurality of tags inassociation with the locator associated with the first item review;providing a user interface for display on a user terminal, the userinterface configured to enable the user to access the first item review;at least partly in response to the first user requesting the first itemreview, accessing at least a portion of the first plurality of tags andcausing one or more of the first plurality of tags to be displayed onthe user terminal in association with the first item review; providingfor display, adjacent to, but not overlaying the first item review, andwhile at least a portion of first item review is displayed in a videoplayer on the user terminal, one or more controls enabling the user to:purchase the first item; and/or indicate to other users that the userwants the first item; and/or ask other users to indicate their opinionof the first item; wherein the first item review is streamed from asource different than a source of the video player.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The disclosed aspects will hereinafter be described in conjunction withthe appended drawings, provided to illustrate and not to limit thedisclosed aspects, wherein like designations denote the elements.

FIG. 1 illustrates a flowchart of an exemplary method in accordance withthe system and methods for providing user generated user reviewsdescribed herein;

FIG. 2 illustrates a computer system in accordance with the system andmethods for providing user generated user reviews described herein;

FIG. 3 illustrates an exemplary screenshot of sending or uploading auser generated video review in accordance with the system and methodsfor providing user generated user reviews described herein;

FIG. 4 illustrates an exemplary screenshot of creating a product tag inaccordance with the system and methods for providing user generated userreviews described herein;

FIG. 5 illustrates an exemplary screenshot of creating a product tag inaccordance with the system and methods for providing user generated userreviews described herein;

FIG. 6 illustrates an exemplary screenshot of creating a product tag inaccordance with the system and methods for providing user generated userreviews described herein;

FIG. 7 illustrates an exemplary screenshot of creating a product tag inaccordance with the system and methods for providing user generated userreviews described herein;

FIG. 8 illustrates an exemplary screenshot of creating a product tag inaccordance with the system and methods for providing user generated userreviews described herein; and

FIG. 9 illustrates an exemplary screenshot of a web application forpublishing a user generated video review.

FIG. 10 illustrates an example user interface application for publishinga user generated video review.

FIG. 11 illustrates an example process.

FIG. 12 illustrates an example dimensional graph used to display userfeedback that maps user selection between a like state or a dislikestate regarding a product review.

FIG. 13 illustrates an example dialogue box containing a written commentby a reviewer.

FIG. 14 illustrates an example three dimensional graph used to displayuser feedback that maps individuals in a three dimensional manner on alandscape plot having cells of color that indicate like/dislike states.

FIG. 15 illustrates an example search results user interface.

FIG. 16A-E illustrates example tagging and image upload user interfaces.

FIGS. 17, 18A-J, 19A-B illustrate example user interfaces.

FIG. 20 illustrates an example review search process.

FIG. 21 illustrates an example polling interface.

FIGS. 22, 23A, 23B, 23C illustrate additional example user interfaces.

FIGS. 24-25 illustrate example processes.

FIGS. 26-27 illustrate example user interfaces.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

A review platform for consumable items such as products and services(sometimes generally referred to as “items”) will now be described. Inthe following exemplary description numerous specific details are setforth in order to provide a more thorough understanding of exampleembodiments of the invention. It will be apparent, however, to anartisan of ordinary skill that the present invention may be practicedwithout incorporating all aspects of the specific details describedherein. In other instances, specific features, quantities, ormeasurements well known to those of ordinary skill in the art have notbeen described in detail so as not to obscure the invention.

FIG. 1 illustrates a flowchart of an exemplary method in accordance withthe system and methods for providing user generated user reviewsdescribed herein. A user account is generated at step 104. The useraccount may be generated for use on a host networked location (e.g., awebsite) by a registered user. The host networked location (which inthis example is in the form of a website) may be addressed to a uniquedomain name or other network resource locator, and be publicallyaccessible by desktop computers, mobile computers, tablet computers, andmobile phones with a wired or wireless internet network connection. Thehost website may provide an interface to a registered user of the hostwebsite for generating a user account associated with the registereduser. The registered user may be requested to provide to the hostwebsite a set of user account information. In some embodiments, the setof user account information comprises name, screen name, password,residential address, email address, phone number, age, sex, and otherinformation. The user account may be one of thousands or millions ofuser accounts generated for use on the host website. To confirm theidentity of the registered user for subsequent access of the hostwebsite, the registered user is prompted to log-in by entering theregistered user's screen name and password. If the registered user'sentered screen name and password matches the previously provided screenname and password, then the registered user is given reviewer access tothe host website and is identified and tracked by the user account.Compared to someone without a successful log-in into a user account, theregistered user may be granted additional access to the host websiteafter a successful log-in into the user account or log-in via otherauthentication methods such as Open Authentication (OAuth) or any othersuitable authentication method.

In some embodiments, once the registered user has a successful log-ininto the user account, the registered user may send a user generatedvideo review (UGVR) to be received by the host website at step 106. FIG.3 illustrates an exemplary user interface enabling a user to select auser generated video review to upload (e.g., by dragging a video file tothe user interface, by selecting a file via browse control, orotherwise), to record a user generated video review, or to link to auser generated video review or to otherwise provide a user generatedvideo review in accordance with the system and methods for providinguser generated user reviews described herein. The user generated videoreview comprises audio and video data which may be sent from a terminal,such as a desktop computer or a mobile device. The mobile device may bea notebook computer, tablet computer, mobile phone, or any portableelectronic device able to communicate with the host website. The usergenerated video review may provide useful information about a reviewedproduct to a viewer of the user generated video review. The viewer ofthe user generated video review may be a potential costumer for thereviewed product featured in the user generated video review.

A user generated video review that features a reviewed product mayinclude useful information to a potential costumer such as ademonstration of the unpacking of the product, visual views of theproduct from different angles and distances, visual and audiodemonstrations of uses or functionality, and spoken descriptions of thereviewed product. As an example, the user generated video reviewfeaturing a new mobile phone may begin with the registered user unboxinga newly purchased mobile phone, assembling the mobile phone, turning themobile phone around in the hands, turning the mobile phone on, and usinga few of the mobile phone's functions. At the same time, the registereduser may speak of facts and opinions on the packaging, visualappearance, and usefulness of the features of the mobile phone.

As noted above, the registered user may choose to upload a video file,record a video, or link a video of the user generated video review to bereceived by the host website using, for example, the interfaceillustrated in FIG. 3. Uploading a video may be accomplished by having apreexisting video file ready and sending the preexisting video file tothe host website. In some embodiments, the preexisting video file mayhave been created by a video recorder such as a digital camera, digitalcamcorder, a webcam, a tablet, a mobile phone, or some other videorecording hardware. The preexisting video file may be in a raw orcompressed video and audio data format. The compressed video data mayuse the H.264, VP8, MPEG-4, MPEG-2, RealVideo, Theora, Dirac, or anothersuitable video compression format. The compressed audio data may use themp3, AAC, Ogg, MPC, AC3, RA, or another suitable audio compressionformat. The preexisting video file may be stored on a solid state diskdrive, hard disk drive, random access memory, or some other digitalstorage medium. An upper and lower limit may be placed to on thepreexisting video file to restrict the file size or the length of video.

The registered user may also choose to record a new video instead ofuploading a preexisting video file. The registered user may record theuser generated video review with a digital camera, digital camcorder, awebcam, a tablet, a mobile phone, or some other video recordinghardware. Video data may be sent live and piecemeal as a stream by theregistered user and received by the host website. The streamed videodata may be in a raw or compressed format.

The registered user may link a video as another option. The registereduser may specify a network-accessible location of a preexisting video ofthe user generated video review. The preexisting video may be located onany network-accessible location such as an external website, an ftpserver, or an online database. The host website finds the user generatedvideo review based on the network-accessible location specified by theregistered user.

In some embodiments, the user generated video review is recorded atand/or received from an interactive kiosk. The interactive kiosk may belocated in a shopping center or retail store. The interactive kiosk maybe a station equipped with a video camera and/or recorder, a userinterface configured to receive user inputs (e.g., tag information, areview title, a still image, and/or other information discussed herein),and a network connection (e.g., to the Internet). Optionally, a scanneris provided (e.g., an optical and/or RF scanner) configured to scaninformation encoded on an item tag (e.g., a 2D or 3D barcode, or an RFIDtag). Some or all of the scanned information (e.g., a product name,brand, module identifier, color, price, etc.) may be used toautomatically populate tags associated with a review. A shopper maycarry a store item to the kiosk in a shopping center or retail store andsubstantially immediately create and send a user generated video reviewof the item obtained at the store or shopping center. In addition orinstead, the user generated video review may be created and submittedvia a mobile device of the user.

The host website receives and stores a product tag associated with thereviewed product at step 108. The product tag may be stored inassociation with the corresponding video review. The product tag may becreated by the registered user as words or phrases which describer(e.g., accurately describe) the reviewed product and/or their feelingsregarding the reviewed product. FIGS. 4-8 illustrate exemplary userinterfaces utilized in creating a product tag in accordance with thesystem and methods for providing user generated user reviews describedherein. The product tag may include words or phrases identifying brand,model, size, color, visual traits, functional specifications, uses, andother descriptive text. The user may upload photos or find links topictures of the tagged product. These product images are optionallyassociated with the aforementioned tags and in turn displayed duringvideo playback. The product images can be displayed as part of the videoplayback scrubber and/or embedded into the video itself. For example,the product images can appear as part of the video playback scrubber asthe video proceeds, and change during playback as different products arediscussed, or entirely new/different product images can be shown asneeded to support the review.

In some embodiments, the product tag may be received by obtaininglabeling data, such as barcode data scanned from a barcode or RFID datascanned from an RIFD tag, and executing a product tag search to identifya product tag based, at least in part, on the labeling data. The barcodedata may be extracted by scanning a barcode label affixed to a product,a product package, or a shelf on which the product is stored. Scanningrefers to any method of extracting encoded data such as RFID data from aRFID tag using a RFID reader, or barcode data from a barcode label,including but not limited to using a pen-type reader, laser scanner, ora camera from a mobile device. Barcode data may be a partial or fullimage, number or other identifying data. The product tag search may beexecuted by a mobile device or by the host website.

The product tag is used to associate a product description to thereviewed product at step 110. In some embodiments, the productdescription contains text describing brand, model, size, color, visualtraits, functional specifications, uses, and other descriptiveinformation. The text may be obtained from the registered user,individuals experienced with the reviewed product, viewers of the user'sreview, manufacturer or seller of the reviewed product, encyclopedia,journal, magazine, or product description database. In some embodiments,a product description search is executed to identify the productdescription. The product description search may search a descriptiondatabase or other digital sources using the product tag to identify anappropriate product description for the reviewed product.

In some embodiments, the user generated video review features at leastone additional reviewed product, where each reviewed product associateswith a different video segment in the user generated video review. Inthese embodiments, the user generated video review includes a pluralityof video segments. Each video segment individually associates with areviewed product which is associated with a product tag. The registereduser individually creates a product tag and defines a video segment toassociate with each reviewed product.

In some embodiments, each reviewed product in the user generated userreview is additionally associated with a tagged portion of a displayarea of the user generated video review. The display area of the usergenerated video review is an area of a user interface containingdimensions of the video of the video generated video review. The taggedportion of the display area contains dimensions of the visualrepresentation of each reviewed product. The tagged portion of thedisplay area associated with the reviewed product may change in size andlocation during the video segment associated with the reviewed product.

In one or more embodiments, the user generated video review may beedited by the registered user on the host website. Editing refers to anymethod of altering the user generated video review, including but notlimited to shortening the length of the user generated video review byremoving selected segments or altering the brightness, contrast, orcolors of the user generated video review. Editing also includesamending or changing tags associated with the video review.

Optionally, the user generated video needs to be automatically and/ormanually approved prior to posting. For example, the user generatedvideo review is approved if a set of criteria are met at step 112. Theset of criteria may help ensure that the user generated video review issufficiently useful to a viewer. Criterion may include suitability ofproduct tags, length, visual quality, audio quality, clarity of speech,usefulness of review, identity of said reviewed product, or identity ofsaid user account. For example, the preexisting video file may belimited to a file size of 5 megabytes to 500 megabytes and the length ofvideo may be limited to 15 seconds to 15 minutes in order for the videoto be posted. Limiting the size and length of the user generated videoreview has a useful effect of eliminating preexisting video files whichlikely do not contain enough desirable content or contains too muchundesirable content. In another example, visual quality may be enforcedby not approving videos with a resolution below a specified level, suchas below 640×480 pixels or 480p. The approval process for the usergenerated video review may be manual or may be partially or fullyautomated by a software algorithm. A user generated review that is notapproved will not be published on the host website at step 134.

The user generated video review is stored to a database comprising aplurality of user generated video reviews at step 114. The usergenerated video review is stored as a video file in a raw or compressedvideo and audio data format. The compressed video data may use theH.264, VP8, MPEG-4, MPEG-2, RealVideo, Theora, Dirac, or anothersuitable video compression format. The compressed audio data may use themp3, AAC, Ogg, MPC, AC3, RA, or another suitable audio compressionformat. In some embodiments, the database includes at least one computerstorage medium with a network connection to the host website. The usergenerated video review may be stored on database for an indefiniteperiod of time until a decision is made to delete the user generatedvideo review. In some cases, the user generated user review will bedeleted from the database based on date of creation, the existence ofnewer user generated video reviews featuring the same reviewed product,video rating, or user account rating. As an example, a user generatedvideo review that is over a year old, have fewer than 10 views in 6months, or have a video rating below a certain threshold. The databasemay store multiple copies of the user generated video review in multiplecomputer storage mediums. This forms a backup enabled system so that theuser generated video review will not be lost in the event a computerstorage medium fails.

The user generated video review is published at step 116. In someembodiments, the user generated video review is made available to allviewers of the host website and the user generated video review may befound and viewed by any viewer without a log-in process. This enablesthe host website to provide a plurality of user generated video reviewsas a free service to the public. In another embodiment, the usergenerated video review is made available to only a set of viewers andmay only be viewed by viewers who have completed a log-in process.

The host website may implement an interface to enable a viewer to finduser generated video reviews pertaining to the viewer's interest fromthe plurality of user generated video reviews available on the database.One such interface may be a search tool which enables a viewer to entera word or phrase describing a brand, model, size, color, visual traits,functional specifications, uses, or another characteristic of a reviewedproduct. With a software algorithm, the search tool attempts to find atleast one user generated video review that features a relevant reviewedproduct based on the word or phrase entered (e.g., by matching one ormore query terms with video review tags). If the software algorithmfinds more than one relevant user generated video review result, thesoftware algorithm may sort the results according to a relevancecriterion such as date of creation of the user generated video reviewresult. In the embodiments where the user generated video reviewfeatures a plurality of reviewed products and each reviewed productassociates with a different video segment, the search tool willadditionally find the relevant video segment.

Another interface enables the viewer to find a user generated videoreview by selecting a main category of reviewed products then navigatingthrough at least one subcategory. A user generated video review, or avideo segment in a user generated video reviews which feature aplurality of reviewed products, may be organized into categories andsubcategories based on brand, model, size, color, visual traits,functional specifications, uses, or another characteristic of thereviewed product.

In some embodiments, a video rating may be associated with the usergenerated video review based on a collection of input from viewers ofthe user generated video review at step 118. A user account rating maythen be assigned to the user account based on the video ratings of eachof the user generated video reviews received from the user account. Insome embodiments, the video rating or the user account rating have aneffect on the incentive distributed to the user account.

In some embodiments, a segment rating may be individually associatedwith each video segment featuring each reviewed product in the usergenerated video review at step 119. The segment rating is based on acollection of input from viewers of the video segment. User generatedcomments may also be individually associated with each video segmentfeaturing each reviewed product in the user generated video review atstep 119. In embodiments, the number of comments made during aparticular review is shown to a viewer of the review. As discussed ingreater detail elsewhere herein, comments may be segmented by respectiveitems presented within a video review.

In some embodiments, a user interface is provided to enable a viewer ofa user generated video review to purchase the reviewed product featuredin the user generated video review at step 120. The user interface maybe a hypertext transfer protocol link that enables the viewer to quicklynavigate a browser to an external website to purchase the reviewedproduct. The user interface may enable the viewer to directly purchasethe reviewed product from the host website using common tools of onlineshopping known in art. The user interface may also provide instructionson methods that the viewer may apply to purchase the reviewed product.In some embodiments, the interface enables the viewer to select thetagged portion of a display area associated with the reviewed product topurchase the reviewed product. A display area of the user generatedvideo review is an area of a display screen containing dimensions of thevideo of the video generated video review.

In some embodiments, the user generated video review may be licensed toa third party to provide access to the user generated review to thethird party at step 122. Licensing access to the user generated videoreviews is an effective method of monetizing the value of the pluralityof user generated video reviews stored on the database. Third partiesinclude suppliers, retailers, online shopping websites, onlineinformational websites, external databases, mobile device manufacturers,software developers, and other such entities. In some embodiments, thethird party may be monetarily charged for each user generated videoreview accessed. In some other embodiments with a subscription system,the third party may be charged a monthly or yearly fee for access to thevideo player, related technology and/or a large set of user generatedvideo reviews and/or the third party may share revenues, related to theuse of the video player, related technology and/or the user generatedreviews, with the subscription system operator. In some embodiments, thevideo player is an intelligent gathering mechanism for analytics ofconsumer information, and tracks user behavior, such as what productsare purchased on what days and at what time, cart size, productspurchased, comments made per product, ratings per product, pollingresults conducted by the video player, demo information, and the like.The video player may be linked to and/or displayed embedded withineditorial content (e.g., third party editorial content), withinadvertisements (e.g., optionally including banner advertisements, preand/or post roll in a video), or elsewhere. The video player and/orcontent may be licensed to third parties, optionally on a revenuesharing basis (e.g., where the provider of the video player and/orcontent receives revenue from licensee as a result of purchases oradvertising revenues received as a result of a user utilizing the videoplayer and/or content) or on a flat fee basis.

In some embodiments, a web application is provided to publish the usergenerated video review on an external website at step 124. FIG. 9illustrates an exemplary user interface of a web application forpublishing a user generated video review in accordance with the systemand methods for providing user generated user reviews described herein.The web application may be a software program for a video player to beembedded on the external website. An external website containing a webcontent may use the web application to embed the video player to play auser generated video review featuring a reviewed product that is relatedto the web content. A user of the external website may view a usergenerated video review with the web application on the external website.

In some embodiments, a mobile application is provided to publish theuser generated video review on a mobile device at step 126.

A user of the mobile device may view a user generated video reviewembedded within an advertisement or within the webpage itself in-linewith website content with the mobile application on the mobile device.

In some embodiments, a browser application is provided to a browser,where the browser application publishes the user generated video reviewon the browser if a set of relevance criteria are met at step 128. Therelevance criteria compares the reviewed product featured in the usergenerated video review with a content displayed on the browser. Anexample implementation of this embodiment enables a user performing asearch on a search engine in the browser to view a user generated videoreview featuring a reviewed product related to the search on the searchengine.

In some embodiments, a social networking application is provided oraccessed, where the social networking application publishes the usergenerated video review on a social networking website at step 130. Aviewer of the user generated video review may use the social networkingapplication to display the user generated video review on a socialnetworking website. Users of the social networking website may then viewthe user generated video review on the social networking website. Insome embodiments, the users of the social networking website may specifywhether they “like” or “dislike” the product and/or service reviewed inthe user generated video review, or purchase the reviewed productfeatured in the user generated video review. In an embodiment, the usersmay specify that they want or own the product or service reviewed. Thenumber of users indicating this desire can also be displayed to theuser.

An incentive is optionally distributed to the user account associatedwith the user generated video review at step 132. The incentive acts asa reward to the registered user for creating an approved user generatedreview and as a motivation to create more user generated video reviewsin the future. Incentives may be distributed based on criteria such as,but not limited to the number of approved user generated reviewsreceived from the user account, the quality of the registered user'suser generated video reviews, the number of views for the user generatedvideo review, the ratings given by viewers of the user generated videoreview, and/or the number of people who “like” the user generated videoreview on a social networking website. Incentives may be distributedbased on advertising revenue the host website received in connectionwith the user generated video review. Incentives may be distributedbased on sales revenue received in connection with purchases of thereviewed product featured in the user generated video review. Incentivesmay be distributed based on licensing fees from third parties for accessto the user generated review. In some embodiments, the incentive mayinclude monetary sums and be distributed to the registered user bycheck, electronic wire transfer, store gift card, or online shoppingcredit. The incentive may include a visually distinguishable andprestigious design which highlights the registered user's reviewingabilities or the registered user's quality of video reviews. Theincentive may include points which may be used for discounts on newproducts that are affiliated with the host website.

FIG. 2 illustrates a computer system in accordance with the system andmethods for providing user generated user reviews described herein. Ageneral-purpose computer and peripherals, when programmed as describedherein, may operate as a specially programmed computer 200 capable ofimplementing one or more methods, apparatus and/or systems of thesolution described in this disclosure. A processor 207 may be coupled toa bi-directional communication infrastructure 202 such as communicationinfrastructure system 202. The communication infrastructure 202 maygenerally be a system bus that provides an interface to the othercomponents in the general-purpose computer system such as the processor207, a main memory 206, a display interface 208, a secondary memory 212,and/or a communication interface 224.

The main memory 206 may provide a computer-readable medium for accessingand executing stored data and applications. The display interface 208may communicate with a display unit 210 that may be utilized to displayoutputs to a user of the specially programmed computer 200. The displayunit 210 may comprise one or more monitors that may visually depictaspects of the computer program to the user. The main memory 206 and thedisplay interface 108 may be coupled to the communication infrastructure202, which may serve as the interface point to the secondary memory 212and the communication interface 224. The secondary memory 212 mayprovide additional computer-readable medium resources beyond the mainmemory 206, and may generally function as a storage location forcomputer-readable instructions to be executed by processor 207. Eitherfixed or removable computer-readable media may serve as the secondarymemory 212. The secondary memory 212 may comprise, for example, a harddisk 214 and a removable storage drive 216 that may have an associatedremovable storage unit 218. There may be multiple sources of thesecondary memory 212 and systems implementing the solutions described inthis disclosure may be configured as needed to support the data storagerequirements of the user and the methods described herein. Numeroustypes of data storage devices may serve as repositories for datautilized by the specially programmed computer 200. For example, randomaccess memory, read-only memory, solid-state storage, magnetic storage,optical or magnetic-optical storage, or any other available mass storagetechnology that provides a repository for digital information may beused.

The communication interface 224 may be coupled to the communicationinfrastructure 202 and may serve as a conduit for data destined for orreceived from a communication path 226. A network interface card (NIC)is an example of the type of device that once coupled to thecommunication infrastructure 202 may provide a mechanism fortransporting data to the communication path 226. Computer networks suchLocal Area Networks (LAN), Wide Area Networks (WAN), Wireless networks,optical networks, distributed networks, the Internet or any combinationthereof are some examples of the type of communication paths that may beutilized by the specially programmed computer 200. The communicationpath 226 may comprise any type of telecommunication network orinterconnection fabric that can transport data to and from communicationinterface 224.

To facilitate user interaction with the specially programmed computer200, one or more human interface devices (HID) 230 may be provided. Someexamples of HIDs that enable users to input commands or data to thespecially programmed computer 200 may comprise a keyboard, mouse, touchscreen devices, microphones or other audio interface devices, motionsensors or the like, as well as any other device able to accept any kindof human input and in turn communicate that input to processor 207 totrigger one or more responses from the specially programmed computer 200are within the scope of the system disclosed herein.

While FIG. 2 depicts a physical device, the scope of the system may alsoencompass a virtual device, virtual machine or simulator embodied in oneor more computer programs executing on a computer or computer system andacting or providing a computer system environment compatible with themethods and processes of this disclosure. In one or more embodiments,the system may also encompass a cloud computing system or any othersystem where shared resources, such as hardware, applications, data, orany other resource are made available on demand over the Internet or anyother network. In one or more embodiments, the system may also encompassparallel systems, multi-processor systems, multi-core processors, and/orany combination thereof. Where a virtual machine, process, device orotherwise performs substantially similarly to that of a physicalcomputer system, such a virtual platform will also fall within the scopeof disclosure provided herein, notwithstanding the description herein ofa physical system such as that in FIG. 2.

The non-transitory computer-readable medium may store computer-readableinstructions. The processor 207 executes the computer-readableinstructions to accept a plurality of licensees. Each licensee may be anindividual person, a group of persons, or business entities. Licenseesmay be recruited in-person, over the telephone, or on an Internetwebsite. Licensees may be self-recruited or may be recruited by anotherentity. Self-recruitment may be accomplished by submitting informationon an Internet website. Preferably, licensees will be entities withsales expertise, with knowledge of customer needs, with knowledge ofconsumer trends, with skill in business development, or with any othersimilarly desirable quality.

The processor 207 executes the computer-readable instructions togenerate a user account. The user account may be generated for use on ahost website by a registered user. The host website may be addressed toan unique domain name and be publically accessible by desktop computers,mobile computers, tablets, and mobile phones with a wired or wirelessinternet network connection. The host website may provide an interfaceto a registered user of the host website for generating a user accountassociated with the registered user. The registered user may berequested to provide to the host website a set of user accountinformation. In some embodiments, the set of user account informationcomprises name, screen name, password, residential address, emailaddress, phone number, age, sex, and/or other information. The useraccount may be one of thousands or millions of user accounts generatedfor use on the host website. To confirm the identity of the registereduser for subsequent access of the host website, the registered user isoptionally prompted to log-in by entering the registered user's screenname and password. If the registered user's entered screen name andpassword matches the previously provided screen name and password, thenthe registered user is given reviewer access to the host website and isidentified and tracked by the user account. Compared to someone withouta successful log-in into a user account, the registered user may begranted additional access to the host website after a successful log-ininto the user account.

The processor 207 executes the computer-readable instructions to receivea user generated video review associated with the user account, wherethe user generated video review features at least one reviewed product.The user generated video review comprises audio and video data which maybe sent from a desktop computer or a mobile device. The mobile devicemay be a notebook computer, tablet computer, mobile phone, or anyportable electronic device able to communicate with the host website.The user generated video review should ideally provide usefulinformation about a reviewed product to a viewer of the user generatedvideo review. The viewer of the user generated video review will mosttypically be a potential costumer for the reviewed product featured inthe user generated video review. A user generated video review thatfeatures a reviewed product may include useful information to apotential customer such as a demonstration of the unpacking of theproduct, visual views of the product from different angles anddistances, visual and audio demonstrations of uses or functionality, andspoken descriptions of the reviewed product.

The registered user may choose to upload a video file, record a video,or link a video of the user generated video review to be received by areview server supporting the host website. Uploading a video may beaccomplished by having a preexisting video file ready and sending thepreexisting video file to the host website. In some embodiments, thepreexisting video file may have been created by a video recorder such asa digital camera, digital camcorder, a webcam, a tablet, a mobile phone,or some other video recording hardware. The preexisting video file maybe in a raw or compressed video and audio data format. The compressedvideo data may use the H.264, VP8, MPEG-4, MPEG-2, RealVideo, Theora,Dirac, or another suitable video compression format. The compressedaudio data may use the mp3, AAC, Ogg, MPC, AC3, RA, or another suitableaudio compression format. The preexisting video file may be stored on asolid state disk drive, hard disk drive, random access memory, or someother digital storage medium. An upper and lower limit may be placed toon the preexisting video file to restrict the file size or the length ofvideo.

The registered user may also choose to record a video “live” instead ofuploading a preexisting video file. The registered user may record theuser generated video review with a digital camera, digital camcorder, awebcam, a tablet, a mobile phone, or some other video recordinghardware. Video data may be sent live and piecemeal as a stream by theregistered user and received by the host website. The streamed videodata may be raw or compressed format.

The processor 207 executes the computer-readable instructions to receivea product tag associated with a reviewed product selected from the atleast one reviewed product. The product tag may be created by theregistered user as words or phrases which accurately describe thereviewed product. The product tag may include words or phrasesidentifying brand, model, size, color, visual traits, functionalspecifications, uses, and other descriptive text.

The processor 207 executes the computer-readable instructions toassociate a product description to the reviewed product based on theproduct tag. In some embodiments, the product description contains textdescribing brand, model, size, color, visual traits, functionalspecifications, uses, and other descriptive information. The text may beobtained from the registered user, individuals experienced with thereviewed product, manufacturer or seller of the reviewed product,encyclopedia, journal, magazine, or product description database. Insome embodiments, a product description search is executed to identifythe product description. The product description search may search adescription database or other digital sources using the product tag toidentify an appropriate product description for the reviewed product.

The processor 207 executes the computer-readable instructions to approvesaid user generated video review if a set of criteria are met. The setof criteria helps ensure that the user generated video review issufficiently useful to a viewer. Criterion may include suitability ofproduct tags, length, visual quality, audio quality, clarity of speech,usefulness of review, identity of said reviewed product, or identity ofsaid user account. The approval process for the user generated videoreview may be manual or may be partially or fully automated by asoftware algorithm. A user generated review that is not approved willnot be published on the host website.

The processor 207 executes the computer-readable instructions to storesaid user generated video review to a database comprising a plurality ofuser generated video reviews. The user generated video review is storedas a video file in a raw or compressed video and audio data format. Thecompressed video data may use the H.264, VP8, MPEG-4, MPEG-2, RealVideo,Theora, Dirac, or another suitable video compression format. Thecompressed audio data may use the mp3, AAC, Ogg, MPC, AC3, RA, oranother suitable audio compression format. In some embodiments, thedatabase includes at least one computer storage medium with a networkconnection to the host website.

The processor 207 executes the computer-readable instructions to publishthe user generated video review. In some embodiments, the user generatedvideo review is made available to all viewers of the host website andthe user generated video review may be found and viewed by any viewerwithout a log-in process. In another embodiment, the user generatedvideo review is made available to only a set of viewers and may only beviewed by viewers who have completed a log-in process.

The processor 207 executes the computer-readable instructions to providean interface for a viewer of the user generated video review to purchasethe reviewed product featured in the user generated video review. Theuser interface may be a hypertext transfer protocol link that enablesthe viewer to quickly navigate a browser to an external website topurchase the reviewed product. The user interface may enable the viewerto directly purchase the reviewed product from the host website usingcommon tools of online shopping known in art. The user interface mayalso provide instructions on methods that the viewer may apply topurchase the reviewed product.

In some embodiments, the system includes a web application whichpublishes said user generated video review on an external website. Theweb application may be a software program for a video player to beembedded on the external website. It is contemplated that an externalwebsite containing a web content will use the web application to embedthe video player to play a user generated video review featuring areviewed product that is related to the web content. A user of theexternal website may view a user generated video review with the webapplication on the external website. In some embodiments, the systemincludes a mobile application which publishes said user generated videoreview on a mobile device. A user of the mobile device may view a usergenerated video review with the mobile application on the mobile device.

The processor 207 executes the computer-readable instructions todistribute an incentive to the user account associated with the usergenerated video review. Incentives may be distributed based on criteriasuch as but not limited to the number of approved user generated reviewsreceived from the user account, the quality of the registered user'suser generated video reviews, the number of views for the user generatedvideo review, the ratings given by viewers of the user generated videoreview, or the number of people who “like” the user generated videoreview on a social networking website. Incentives may be distributedbased on advertising revenue the host website received in connectionwith the user generated video review. Incentives may be distributedbased on sales revenue received in connection with purchases of thereviewed product featured in the user generated video review. Incentivesmay be distributed based on licensing fees from third parties for accessto the user generated review. In some embodiments, the incentive mayinclude monetary sums and be distributed to the registered user bycheck, electronic wire transfer, store gift card, or online shoppingcredit. The incentive may include a visually distinguishable andprestigious design which highlights the registered user's reviewingabilities or the registered user's quality of video reviews. Theincentive may include points which may be used for discounts on newproducts that are affiliated with the host website.

FIG. 11 displays an example process 500 from the perspective of a clientdevice, such as used by an end user when operating in concert with areview server that manages databases as described above. Process 500 maybe triggered when a product is displayed in an advertisement shown tothe user on a third party content website that displays one or moreadvertisements, for example. In such advertisements, by selecting theproduct or product review selector choice, the user is able to initiateprocess 500. The client device (e.g., a portable device, such as amobile phone) may be in communication with a public telecommunicationnetwork. At state 502, the client device displays a product reviewrecording to a user and, while displaying the product review recording,optionally also displays a review product control to the user and acontrol to initiate the polling of others (e.g., the user's socialnetwork “friends”). Continuing to state 504, a user selection isreceived.

At decision state 505, if a user instruction to create a review isreceived, the process transitions to state 506. If a user pollinginstruction is received, the process transitions to state 512. In someembodiments, the instruction to create a review is to create a review ofan item that has already been reviewed by another, and state 506 enablesa user to provide their own opinion. Optionally, in addition or instead,the user may be presented with other products to review. Optionally, itis assumed that the same product is being reviewed in state 506 andgives the user a choice of what else the user desires to add.Optionally, in addition to creating a review, the user is also given theopportunity to purchase the product by a selectable option presentedduring the playback of the review. As control transitions to state 506,a user selection of a product to review is received. The selection maybe made manually or the selection may be made by examining the producttag associated with a product review currently displayed to the user.

At state 508, a product review is recorded by the user. At state 510,the recorded preview is uploaded to a server of managed product reviews.Optionally, the user receives some level of reward or compensation forsubmitting a review. Returning to state 512, where the user has selectedthe polling control, optionally a link to a product review is sent to alist of recipients chosen by the user, such as members of a socialnetwork to which the user belongs, and/or the product review (or a linkthereto) is published on a user's social profile.

Polling of one's social network enables the user to monitor a smallergroup of individuals, of whom the user has personal contact, or, a largeonline community of people including people with whom the user has nothad personal contact, but has a communication path to such people.Referring to FIG. 12, there is shown graphically an example like/dislikerepresentation that varies over time. Graph 900 includes a centerlinethat can be shown different ways, but herein is shown as dashed line902. Good feeling of a polled individual while watching a review about aproduct and/or service can be recorded by the user by continuallyselecting a “like” control or a “dislike” control during the time apolled reviewer watches a review. Playback of the video about thereviewed product and/or service to the polled individual can be madecontingent on the user pressing a like or dislike control, so that thereis always a fresh opinion registered by a reviewer. Tracking of thisopinion level is shown by line 906, which stays above dashed line 902for most of the review, until there is a dislike spike at 908, followedby an immediate like spike 910, at a point in time during the review.Activating a like control repeatedly keeps a reviewer's like opinionhigh above dashed line 902; pressing a dislike control repeatedly keepsa reviewer's dislike opinion well below the dashed line 902, andinactivity brings the user's opinion close to dashed line 902; thusreviewers can reach their extreme expression points by rapidly pressingeither a like or a dislike control, thus causing a peak or a valley tooccur, making it easily seen by someone looking at polling results ofindividual reviewers to see where noteworthy feedback occurs. Thus, aviewer of the graph may quickly identify trends from the reactions ofindividuals in their social network. Slider tool 910 (also referred toas a scrubber herein) is provided in an embodiment to enable a user toselect a portion of a review based on an upward or downward spike online 906. Also, at these moments in time, members of a user's socialgroup can add text, such as a text comment, which is displayed to a userduring playback of a polled review in area 930, (see, e.g., FIG. 13).

FIG. 21 illustrates an example polling request user interface, which maybe presented to recipient, such as one or more contacts or socialnetwork members of a reviewer or a viewer of a review. In this example,the item video review is presented via the user interface in associationwith metadata, such as the name of the video review, the name of theitem review, the item brand name, and/or the item category. The userinterface requests that the recipient provide their opinion on the itembeing reviewed to aid the sender. In the illustrated example embodiment,several predefined poll responses are provided from which the recipientcan select. For example, the predefined responses may be approval (e.g.,“I love it—you should get it”), indifference/indecisive (e.g., “so-so,maybe”), or disapproval (e.g., “hate it! No way!”), and/or there may bea text field configured to receive a text input from the recipient. Therecipient's response may be provided to the poll requester individuallyand/or in aggregation with poll responses from others (e.g., with atotal for how many recipients voted approval, disapproval, andindifference). FIG. 26 illustrates another example polling userinterface embedded on a social networking site page of a user/recipient,which includes user comments regarding the item being reviewed and thatenables the recipient to add comments in addition to voting with respectto the item.

Referring to FIG. 14, in an example embodiment, the feedback gained froma user's social network can be represented in a three dimensionallandscape plot that provides organization of a number of individualsfrom the user's social network. Considering a given cell of the graph940 as a static location in a representation of friends polled by auser, manipulation of slider tool 910 during playback of a polled reviewenables a user to move forward or backward through a polled review andsee what members of his or her social network are expressing throughtheir selection of like or dislike during the review.

As a like control or dislike control is activated by the user during areview, the reviewer graph 940 can utilize color in the background ofindividual squares that show like or dislike, for example byilluminating a cell 942 assigned to a social network member as green forlike or red for dislike, and also by using dynamic icons for socialnetwork members. These icons could appear on graph 940 asthree-dimensional images of photographed person or computer-generatedanimation, or any other representation people would create forthemselves. As referred to herein, dynamic icons are representations ofindividual social network members who have different actions orexpressions over time are shown on graph 940 and are dependent on theuser's like or dislike state.

For example, a user could populate a like/dislike span of images leadingfrom one extreme to the other extreme. A user can monitor the socialnetwork by skimming through a review to see if there is seen activity ongraph 940, and view groups of reviewers simultaneously during a productand/or service review that is being shown to them. Activity would beobserved as, for example, at cells 944, 946, 948, where images ofindividual members of a social network may include an icon jumping upand down for a prolonged like state, or kneeling and sobbing, orsleeping for a prolonged dislike state.

Creativity in groups of users such as social networks is a function ofthe will of the individual members themselves, and adds an entertainmentaspect to the observation of one's reviews by others, so differentmembers of a social network may have their own set of pantomimes, bytheir own creation or by selection from a set of illustrated pantomimesin a database representation. Individual members of a social network mayhave a set of pantomimes stored for their icon that is used as explainedabove, to represent individual values along the range of like anddislike. Toolbar 910 and graph 940 as used herein enable a user tovisually scan reviews quickly and select them based on like or dislikelevels observed visually in his or her social network. If the icons on auser's graph are expressing pantomimes of extreme like (or dislike), orif the background colors of the cells on graph 940 are illuminated toindicate a strong like state, a user can stop, and watch that product orservice review based on the expectations received from observing his orher social network as they are polled for like/dislike values.

While the review poll has been described in terms of a user's socialnetwork, in another embodiment, the system in addition or insteadenables the user to select a fantasy social network, wherein the userselects reviewers who have been polled in many reviews, and places themmanually on graph 940. This enables a user to build a unique set ofreviews that can be scanned quickly by moving the space bar 910 acrossreviews that would intersect on a database of recorded reviews,providing the user a new ability of scanning combinations of reviewersthat the user assembles by his or her selection of reviewers from adatabase of reviewers. A selection bar 960 may be included to enable alist of reviewers to be displayed from left to right, or they can bedirectly placed on graph 940.

Thus, various combinations of features described herein enable productreviews to be utilized not only for consumers of products and services,but optionally also for merchandisers looking to assemble merchandiselines for online stores as well as traditional vending methods. Byassembling groups of reviewers that show particular insight to specificproducts and markets, vendors can more accurately select merchandisebased on product reviews uploaded to a product review server. Forexample, a merchandiser having good connectivity with a particularmarket demographic, can assemble panel of product reviewers matchingthat demographic, and watch product reviews by members of thedemographic.

Certain embodiments optionally provide in-edit distribution and/or in-addistribution of user generated video reviews. For example, a review of aconsumable item such as at least one of a product or a service in theform of audio and video information may be provided for display to aviewer. These reviews may be displayed on a web page (or other documentaccessed over or via a network) in-line (e.g., in-edit) with the contentof the webpage (or other document) itself or accessed through a link onthe web page to the content itself. For example, in an editorial articlethat mentions or refers to a particular product, the video review or alink to the video review may be placed in line with (e.g., embeddedwithin) the content of the article. This presents readers with theoption to easily access consumer generated product or service reviewsdirectly from mentions of the product or service itself on the webpage.In other instances, the review is accessible from an advertisement suchas a banner ad on the webpage or other document. The review may beembedded into the advertisement (in-ad) or a link to the review can beprovided within the advertisement via a control or other suchfunctionality that when selected is able to playback a user reviewrelevant to the advertisement. Some or all of the foregoingfunctionality (e.g., the ability to record or upload video reviews, pollfriends, index item reviews within the video review, provide tags,etc.), may be provided via a video player or otherwise when embedded inan advertisement, editorial content, or elsewhere, as discussed ingreater detail elsewhere herein (e.g., see FIG. 25 and the correspondingdiscussion).

When the reader of a web page selects the review or a link to thereview, a video playback window is provided for displaying the video.The video playback window provides a scrubber, such as auser-controllable playback slider bar, proximate to the displayedconsumable item review. The playback slider bar indicates the progressof video playback during a time period in which the review is displayed.

The user-controllable playback slider bar comprises an option foraccepting a user indication of a point on the slider bar, and advancingthe video playback to a portion of the video corresponding to the userindication. Within the playback slider, at least one product image isdisplayed at a location within the slider that corresponds to a periodof time during the review in which the consumable item associated withthe image is reviewed. The user may indicate where an item review withinthe product review is located by placing a corresponding tag. Similarly,the user may indicate where an item photograph is to be presented withinthe scrubber area using a respective tag. Thus, by viewing productimages in the scrubber area, a user viewing the video review canidentify what portion of the video is relevant to the product they areinterested in and skip forward to that portion of the video.

The slider may contain more than one product images. For example, in oneor more embodiments a second image is contained within (or adjacent to)the playback slider when the content of the video transitions from afirst consumable item to a second consumable item. Images within (oradjacent to) the slider may also correlate to different aspects of asame product. If the review is an unboxing review, for example, a firstimage might be of the outside of the box, a second image could show thebox opened, a third image could show the product itself out of the box,a fourth image could show accessories associated with the product and afifth image might show the reviewer using the product. Images within (oradjacent to) the slider are correlated to a time code or frame withinthe video and content of the video review near that time code or frame.Optionally, images displayed in the slider area may be of differentpeople providing respective reviews of the same item or of differentitems.

Within (or adjacent to) the video playback window, controls are providedvia which users are able to select an option to create their own reviewsrelevant to the product review they are watching or relevant to arelated product or an unrelated product. Thus, a mechanism may beprovided for displaying selectable options to a viewer related to theconsumable item. The user may be provided the option to create a reviewof the consumable item or a related consumable item. The selectableoption includes recording a review of the consumable item or a relateditem. Upon selection by a user, a review of the consumable item isgenerated. The review of the consumable item is optionally associatedwith the image in the video playback slider. The user review of theconsumable item may also be unrelated to the consumable item currentlybeing played back by the user.

Various selectable options may be provided to the user. The selectableoptions may also include displaying a polling option, the selection ofwhich comprises polling individuals in the user's social network todetermine opinions of the individuals with respect to the consumableitem. Another selectable option includes a purchase option, theselection of which executes a purchase transaction of the consumableitem by the user. Optionally, selection of the purchase option directsthe user to an affiliate partner for purchase from a third party with acommission paid for a referral. The selectable options may also includea show image option, the selection of which executes display ofadditional images of the consumable item. Thus users can viewalternative images of the consumable item reviewed in the video review.The selectable option may also include a comment option, the selectionof which records a comment made by a user. When comments are entered,the system may provide for display the quantity of comments about thevideo review have been recorded. The selectable options may also includea like/dislike control, the selection of which records a user selectionof one of a like selection and a dislike selection. In addition theselectable options may also include a want option, the selection ofwhich records a user selection indicating that the user wants displayedconsumable item (e.g., in the user's profile, which may be displayed toothers as a user wish list).

The selectable options within the video review may also include a shareoption, the selection of which sends a message to an individual selectedby a user. The share message may contain a link to the video review, anembedded copy of the review, or a copy of the review itself. In one ormore embodiments, selection of the share option publishes a link to theconsumable item on the viewing user's social profile on a socialnetwork. The interfaces for playback of the video review may alsocontain a “want” option, when the user selects the “want” option theuser's desire for the item is stored in a want list and optionallyshared to the user's social network or web in accordance with the user'sprivacy settings. The interface may also contain am “I own this” optionwhich indicates the user owns a product in the video review. Onselection of the “I own this” option, that information is stored and maybe shared via a social network or through the Internet.

The interface displaying the video review may contain a numberindicating how many users have indicated that they want the consumableitem. Thus, the popularity of a consumable item may be determinedthrough the display of the video review or via an associated graphic orindication. The display of the review may also display a numberindicating how many users have viewed the review. The video reviews maybe presented for playback in various contexts. For example, optionallyvideo reviews are embedded within a downloadable, executable softwareprogram such an “app” for a mobile device or computer. In other cases,video reviews are associated with content on a web page.

For example, when a web page (or other network accessible document) haswritten content related to a product that has been reviewed, a link tothe video review or the video review itself may be embedded into the webpage with the written content. On selection, the video review ispresented to the reader for playback along with the selectable optionsdiscussed herein. The video review or a link to the video review mayalso be part of or associated with an advertisement for the consumableproduct or service being advertised. Thus, the video review may alsobecome an advertisement on a web page. The video reviews may bedisplayed, for example, on a television, laptop, phone, table, or otherdisplay device. Because certain embodiments provide various ways forviewers to interact with, create, and share video reviews analyticsabout these actions are obtained and stored. Information such as, howmany times a particular video review is watched, how many people likethe video review, who likes the video review, who indicates they “want”the product reviewed, ratings about the product, what demographics viewand interact with the video review most, and who creates new reviewsafter evaluating an existing product review. Analytics such as, whatproducts are purchased on a web site or affiliate web site after a userviews the review and details about the purchase may also be obtained andstored.

A consumable item review method will now be described. The method mayinclude providing a video review of a consumable item, such as a productor service, for display to a user. The video review is presented invarious contexts (e.g., by selecting a link on a web page, a link in anadvertisement, or in a mobile app). One or more selectable options areassociated with display of the video review. These selectable optionsenable the viewer to take the actions specified in other parts of thisspecification. One example, of a selectable option is a control thatwhen selected enables the user to create their own review of theproduct, an associated product or any other product. Users may alsoindicate whether they want, own, like or viewed the video review. If theuser selects the option to review a consumable item such as a product orservice, the user identifies the consumable item to be reviewed andrecords a video review of the identified item. The video review is thensent to server configured to store the consumable item reviews via anetwork connection.

As noted above, optionally incentives are awarded to the user forrecording and submitting a review. The video review conducted by theuser may in some cases be done subsequent to the user polling others ina social network to which the user belongs and in such cases the videoreview may be displayed to members of a social media associated with theuser for feedback or further interaction. Members of the user's socialnetwork may, for example, create their own product reviews or providecomments about the review. Feedback from other users or video reviewsabout the consumable item may also be displayed. Users who view thevideo review may give it a rating and the system may collect and storerating information derived from individual ratings collected frommultiple viewers of the recorded consumable item review.

As discussed above, a video review (e.g., a single video file) mayoptionally include reviews of multiple products. The product reviews maybe sequentially included in the video review file. For example, if auser goes on a shopping trip, the user may then review each itempurchased (or a subset thereof) in a single video (rather than multiplevideo files, where each file includes a single review). A given productreview within the video review file may be time stamped, indicating atwhat point in time in the video review file the review of the givenproduct begins/occurs. The time stamp, which may be in the form of a“start” tag automatically generated by the user indicating where thestart of the product review is, may be recorded in metadata associatedwith the video review. Other techniques may be used to identify thelocation/position of a given product review within a video review. Forexample, a frame number may be identified as that point at which theproduct review for the given product begins. The frame number may berecorded in metadata associated with the video review. Optionally, auser interface is provided via which the user can indicate which framewithin the item review is to be used to represent the item review infuture search results or the like.

As noted above, an image from a given product review may be displayed ina scrubber area (e.g., a scrubber bar that a user can utilize (e.g., bydragging a scrubber control in the scrubber timeline) to indicate wherethe user wants the video playback to begin or to browse frames in thevideo). Thus, for example, the scrubber area may display images ofproducts being reviewed in the scrubber area, where a given productimage is displayed in the scrubber timeline at a location correspondingto where the review of the respective product begins. The product imagemay be a frame from the review of the product, such as, by way ofexample, the first frame from the review of the product.

A product tag associated with the reviewed product may be received fromthe user posting the video review or a user viewing the video review. Assimilarly discussed above, the product tag may be descriptive of thereviewed product (e.g., the tag may be a product name, a brand nameassociated with the product, a functional name, etc.). A productdescription is associated with the reviewed product based at least inpart on the product tag.

When a video review is posted, optionally viewers of the review may beenabled, via a user interface provided by the posting system, to providecomments regarding a given product review within the video review. Forexample, the comments may be regarding the product being reviewed, thereview itself and/or regarding comments from other viewers. The commentsmay be specifically linked to the corresponding product review withinthe video review so that when a viewer is viewing the video review fileand the comments, the set of comments provided for display by theposting system will dynamically change depending on the product reviewin the video review file is currently being displayed (see, e.g., FIG.17).

For example, if the video review includes three product reviews, when aviewer is viewing the video review, first the product review video forthe first product will be displayed. Optionally, at substantially thesame time, comments previously provided by other users for that firstproduct review video will be displayed in a comments area, whilecomments for the product reviews for the second and third product willnot be displayed. Then, when the product review video for the secondproduct review is displayed in the comments area, corresponding commentspreviously provided by other users for that second product review videowill be displayed, while comments for the product reviews for the firstand third products will not be displayed. Then, when the product reviewvideo for the third product review is displayed in the comments area,corresponding comments previously provided by other users for that thirdproduct review video will be displayed, while comments for the productreviews for the first and second products will not be displayed. If auser (or the system) selects a particular product review to be displayedfirst (even if earlier product reviews are skipped over), the system maycause the corresponding comments to be displayed.

An example review playback interface will now be described. Withreference to FIG. 10, in an example embodiment, while a still of thevideo review is being displayed and/or while the video review 1020 isbeing played for a viewer, various items of information 1018 may overlaythe video review (or may be provide adjacent to the video review 1020)in one or more information areas. For example, information such as thename and/or brand of the item being reviewed, a relatively small stillimage of the item being reviewed, and/or the name of the reviewer may beprovided for display. User accessible controls 1004, 1006, 1008, 1002may be provided via which a viewer of the video review can purchase theitem being reviewed, poll their friends regarding the item beingreviewed (as similarly described elsewhere herein), record their ownreview (of the item in the viewed review or of a different item),indicate that the viewer wants the item being reviewed, and share thereview (e.g., via instant message, email, posting on a social networkpage, or otherwise).

If the viewer activates the want control 1008, an indication that theviewer wants the item may be published at one or more networkedlocations, such as the viewer's social network page, other viewerprofile, a blog, via email or instant messaging to one or more contactsof the viewer, or otherwise. Friends and family of the viewer (andoptionally other users) can then see what the viewer wants, and canpurchase the item for the viewer as a gift. Optionally, the number oflikes received for the item and/or item review, and poll results may bedisplayed as well via the user interface.

Optionally, if the viewer indicates (e.g., by activating the appropriaterecord review or upload review control) that the viewer wants to record(or has recorded) a review for the same item as in the review item, atleast some of the viewer's review tags (e.g., excluding the name of thereviewer, the merchant at which the item was purchased, etc.) areautomatically prepopulated with the tags from the item review justviewed. For example, a brand name tag and a product name tag may beprepopulated with corresponding tags from the just viewed review.Optionally, the viewer can modify, delete, or add to the tags.

Controls may be provided via which the user can pause, fast forward,rewind, and play the video review, skip to the next item being reviewedin the video review, select a specific item review in the video reviewto view, etc. In addition, a time and/or frame indication may beprovided (e.g., in the scrubber area 1002) indicating the current pointin the video being viewed (e.g., 4 minutes, frame 2100) and/or thelocation of the beginning of each item review in the video review. Thetotal length of the video review and/or of the item review, and/or timeremaining may also be displayed.

As similarly discussed above, an image and one or more associated tags(e.g., a review name and/or the name of the item being reviewed) 1003from the current item review being viewed, and one or more images and/ortags 1016 of other item reviews, may be displayed in the scrubber area1002. In certain embodiments, a viewer may click on or otherwise selecta given product image and/or tag in the scrubber area 104, and the videoplayer will jump to the corresponding item review.

Other controls may be provided as well. For example, a control may beprovided via which a viewer of an item review can indicate that they ownthe item being reviewed or that they do not own the item being reviewed.Optionally, if the viewer indicates that the viewer owns the item beingreviewed, the viewer is prompted to provide a video review.

Optionally, the system may also identify other video reviews and/orparticular item reviews a viewer may be interested in and provide a listof such recommended item reviews to the viewer. The list of recommendeditem reviews may include, for a given entry, a frame from therecommended item review, a playback control, a number of views, a numberof indications of approval from viewers, and/or a number of commentsfrom viewers.

For example, the system may identify other item reviews with one or moretags that are substantially the same as or generally correspond to oneor more tags of the item review being viewed by the user. For example,the system may identify one or more item reviews that include the samebrand name or the same product name (e.g., as determined from taginformation) as the item review currently being viewed. By way ofsimilar example, the system may identify other items reviewers by theauthor of the item review currently being viewed. The viewer can thenselect a given recommended item review (e.g., by clicking on acorresponding playback control or otherwise), and the selected itemreview is played back to the viewer (see, e.g., FIG. 17, 1706).

With reference to FIG. 17, a comments area 1702 is presented beneathvideo review 1700, including a plurality of item reviews. The commentspresented in comments area 1702 correspond to the item review beingpresented. As the video review playback proceeds and a next item reviewis presented, the comments presented in the comments area 1702 arecycled to present the comments corresponding to the next item review. Acontrol 1704 is provided, which, when activated by the viewer, causesthe comments to be cycled to display the comments for the next itemreview (if the viewer selects the forward control), or the comments forthe previous item review (if the review selects the backward control).Optionally, the item review presented to the viewer will automaticallycycle synchronous with the comments in the comments area 1702. Assimilarly discussed above, a recommend review area 1706 may listrecommended reviews to the viewer.

After a given video or item review (or between two video or itemsreviews), an interstitial ad (see, e.g., FIG. 22) may be presented toupsell or cross sell other products/service that have associatedviewable video reviews (e.g., user generated video reviews). Theinterstitial ad may be selected by the system based at least in part onthe brand and/or product included in the most recently item reviewviewed by the user, in other item reviews viewed by the user, and/orother indications of interest from the user (e.g., as similarlydiscussed elsewhere herein).

As noted above, a search engine may be provided (e.g., hosted on thesystem on which the video reviews are posted are on another system)wherein a user may submit a search query (e.g., including one or moresearch terms (e.g., jeans, boot cut jeans, blue jeans), which may betextual and/or graphical in nature) for a product review. For example,the search query may be submitted via a search field presented via a webpage, a phone application, a browser plug-in, or otherwise. The searchengine may identify video reviews to the user that include a productreview relevant to the search query. For example, the search engine mayidentify video reviews (each of which or some of which may includereviews of multiple products) that include a product review relevant tothe search query by comparing some or all terms in the search queryagainst tags (or other descriptive matter) associated with videoreviews. The videos included in the search results may be played backvia a video playback device.

Optionally, some or all of the search results may include a timeline ina scrubber area or a representation of a scrubber area (which may benon-functional), or independent of a scrubber area. The search resultsmay present and emphasize a frame (e.g., in the timeline) fromidentified reviews that correspond to the product. Thus, optionally, atimeline indicates at which point in an identified video review theproduct review corresponding to the search results substantially begins.The user can click on the emphasized frame and/or other portions of anidentified video review, and the video review may begin playing atsubstantially the beginning of the product review, automaticallyskipping prior product reviews (if any) in the video review. Thus, theuser does not have to sit through and view reviews of other products inan identified video review that user is not interested in, while waitingfor the desired product review to begin. Further, optionally the userdoes not have to actually select the emphasized frame, and can instead,click on any point of the corresponding search result item to cause theitem review to begin playing and/or click on or otherwise select aplayback control. Optionally, the video playback device willautomatically (or in response to a user instruction) cause the itemreview to be played back in full screen mode, or in a relativelyexpanded mode.

FIG. 15 illustrates an example user interface presenting search results.A “current search” area presents the user search terms corresponding tothe search results. The user can broaden the search by deleting a searchterm (e.g., by activating a delete “x” control). A keywords field isprovided via which the user can add search terms to further focus thesearch. In this example, predefined user selectable categories/searchterms are provided (e.g., “men”, “women”; brand; fit, etc.) in a refinesearch area 1506 to further refine the search. The search engine willthen refresh the search results based at least in part on the userdeletions of search terms and/or user selected categories/search terms.Optionally, the total number of search results and/or the number of itemreview search results associated with a given search results category isprovided for display in association with the category. A results area1508 displays the video/item review search results.

A given video review in the results area may be represented by a framefrom the video review 1510 (e.g., above the scrubber area), a title(optionally provided by the user that recorded and uploaded the review),one or more tags, the name (or other identifier) of the reviewer, thenames (or other identifiers) of other users that liked the review, etc.,may be displayed in association (e.g., overlaying, above, and/orbeneath) a given search result item. The frame representing the videoreview may be a frame (e.g., a substantially initial frame) of the itemreview within the video review corresponding to the search results. Inaddition, a timeline 1510 of frames may be included, where arepresentative frame (e.g., a substantially initial frame of an itemreview) for a given item review is included in the timeline in a timeordered manner. A frame 1514 from the item review corresponding to theuser's search query may be emphasized. For example, the frame from theitem review corresponding to the user's search query may besubstantially centered in the timeline, presented as larger than otherframes in the timeline, presented with a border that is different thanthat of other item review frames (e.g., bolder, of a different color,etc.) presented in the timeline, presented with no other frames in thescrubber area, and/or otherwise emphasized.

Referring again to FIG. 15, the search results may include subcategoriescorresponding to the search query. For example, if the search query is“blue jeans”, the categories may be “boot cut jeans”, “skinny jeans”,“easy fit jeans”, etc. A given item review presented in the searchresults may include one or more controls via which a viewer can add acomment, indicate that they like the item, play the item video review. Acount may be provided indicating how many views the review has received.Optionally, a viewer's comments and/or indication that they like theitem or the review, and/or that they viewed the review may appear on oneor more documents associated with the viewer (e.g., a social networkingsite page/user interface associated with the viewer, a blog, etc.).Optionally, the viewer's comments, indicating that they like the itemand/or review, and/or indication that the viewer viewed the review, mayappear on such documents (e.g., social networking pate of the viewer),optionally in conjunction with a link to the video item review and/orincluding the video item review.

Sort controls 1516 may be provided via which the viewer can instruct tothe system to sort the search results presented to the viewer usingdifferent criteria (e.g., sort in order of recentness, popularity,relevancy/closest match, contributor name/identifier, number comments,etc.), where optionally a user interface is provided via which theviewer can select the sort criteria. The search results are then sortedand presented to the viewer accordingly.

FIG. 20 illustrates an example search process. At state 2002, a searchsystem, which may be included in a review posting system or which mayinterface to the system providing/hosting the video reviews, receives auser search query. At state 2004, video reviews with correspondingtags/descriptive data or other similarity data are identified. The tagsand/or other descriptive data may be associated with a relevant itemreview included in the video review. At state 2006, the identified videoreviews are organized into categories relevant to the search query usingtags associated with the item reviews. For example, if the search queryis “jeans”, the video reviews may be organized into groups of reviewsfor different types of jeans (e.g., categories for “boot cut jeans”,“easy fit jeans”, “skinny jeans”, etc.).

At state 2008, the start locations for the relevant item reviews withinthe video reviews are identified. For example, a “start” tag or othermetadata may have been associated with the beginning of each itemreview, and a descriptive tag may be associated with each item review.The process may identify the start of a relevant item review based atleast in part on start tag and/or the descriptive tag.

At state 2010, a frame (e.g., a substantially initial frame) for a givenrelevant item review is selected as a representative frame for the itemreview. The frame may be selected based at least in part on a priorselection of the frame by the author of the review or may beautomatically selected. At state 2012, the identified video reviews areprovided for display on the user terminal, organized in categories, withselected representative item review frames displayed in the scrubberarea (e.g., on the scrubber or adjacent to the scrubber). The entirescrubber area, or a subset thereof, including the representative frame,may be a hot spot, wherein if the user clicks anywhere in the hotspot,the corresponding item review is played back. Thus, optionally, thesearching user does not have to manually manipulate the scrubber controlto the desired item review start location.

An application (also referred to as an “app”) may be provided forinstallation on a mobile device of a user (although optionally theapplication may be installed on a remote system, wherein a user canaccess the application via the user's mobile device). By way of example,the mobile device may include a camera (which may be used to recordvideo reviews), a microphone (which may be used to record audio for thevideo reviews) display, and input interface, such as a mobile phone, amobile computer, or other mobile device. The app may include some or allof the functionality described herein, such as recording one or moreproducts reviews, assigning tags, names, and other descriptive materialsto a given product review, time and/or frame stamping a product reviewwithin a video including a plurality of reviews, uploading the review toa review posting site, uploading the review to a social networking site,sending the review (e.g., via MMS or email) to one or more recipients,initiating a poll, indicating that the user wants an item in a review,etc.

As similarly discussed above, optionally, using the app, the viewer mayphotograph an optical code (e.g., a 1 dimensional or 2 dimensionalbarcode, such as a QR code) or the app, via the mobile device, may reada code from a radio frequency (RF) tag (e.g., an RFID tag) attached toor corresponding to the product being reviewed. The code (whetheroptical or RF) may include information regarding the product beingreviewed and/or regarding the merchant selling the product and/or wherethe review is being recorded. For example, the code may include a brandname of the product, a model number of the product, a color of theproduct, a price of the product, a name of the merchant, etc. Some orall of this information may be used to automatically populate tags forthe product review.

Optionally, based on some or all of the code information, the system mayidentify other reviews for the product, other merchants/vendors sellingthe product, the price for the product from other merchants, and/orother information (e.g., by matching the code information withcorresponding information stored for other reviews or merchant inventorydatabases). Some or all of such identified information may then bepresented to the user via the app or otherwise. Optionally, the user mayuse the app to scan the code (which may be transmitted to the postingsystem) even without providing a review, and some or all of theforegoing identified information may be presented to the user.

Optionally, a user may be provided an incentive (e.g., a fee, discount,points that may be applied to an item purchase, other incentivesdiscussed herein, etc.) for tagging and/or scanning the items theyreview and/or for providing/uploading the video product review.Different incentives may be provided for different items ofinformation/reviews provided by the user. Optionally, the review hostingsite is paid a fee (e.g., an affiliate fee) if the user and/or a viewerof the user's product review, purchases the scanned and/or reviewedproduct.

Optionally, the posting system and/or other system may provide locationbased push notifications based at least in part on one or more inputs(e.g., an indication of user interest, merchant location information,merchant inventory information, etc.). For example, a notification mayinform the user that a product they have indicated as having an interestin (e.g., by recording a review for the product, by viewing a productfor the product, by uploading barcode data, by activating a like controlfor a review for the product provided by a third party, etc.) isavailable at a named merchant within a specified geographic distance ofthe user's current location (e.g., as determined by locationinformation, such as GPS location information, obtained from the user'smobile device).

Optionally, the app may enable the user to purchase the product onlinevia the app (e.g., by activating a buy control), without having to visita physical, bricks and mortar merchant, although optionally, themerchant may be notified of the purchase and the user may be able topick up the product at the merchant. Optionally, the operator of theposting system and/or the third party reviewer may be paid a fee and/orbe provided with another benefit, if the user purchases the product viathe app and/or the physical, bricks and mortar merchant.

As noted above, a control may be provided in association with an itemreview, another item in the video review, in a video review being viewedby a user enabling the user to record a review for the same item, foranother item in the video review, or for another item not included inthe video review. For example a user interface (e.g., of a native videoplayer) may be provided via which the user can indicate that they wantto submit (e.g., record or upload) a review of the item which is thesubject of the currently viewed review (e.g., a “crochet yoke tank”),another item in the video review (e.g., “another item in this haul”), orfor one or more other items not included in the video review (e.g.,“create a new haul”).

FIGS. 18A-J illustrate example user interfaces at various states of anexample process of adding a video review (e.g., by uploading orrecording a video review, or providing a link to a video review) to beviewed via networked terminals. Referring to FIG. 18A, a user interfaceis provided via which a user can provide a video file by browsing one ormore storage areas to locate and selecting a desired video review, or bydragging a video review to a drop area, or by initiating a video reviewrecording process (e.g., by activating a “record a review” control), orby providing a link to a video review stored on a network accessiblesite (e.g., by activating a “link to review” control). Referring to FIG.18B, if a user selects the “record a video” control in this example, theuser may begin recording a video through a webcam or camcorder connectedto a user terminal. Referring to FIG. 18C, a live feed of the user isprovided via the user interface, via which the user can view herselfprior to and while recording the review. A record control may beprovided, which when activated, causes the example interface presentedin FIG. 18D to be presented. Referring to FIG. 18D, after the useractivates the record control illustrated in FIG. 18C, a countdown timer(e.g., a three second counter or other type of countdown timer) ispresented to the user visually and/or audibly indicating when therecording will begin. Referring to FIG. 18E, the system records thevideo, optionally in a memory system remote from the user terminal, andthe user can view what is being recorded via the user interface. A stoprecording control is provided, which when activated by the user, mayhalt or pause the recording. Optionally, a maximum video length may bespecified by an administrator or otherwise, and the video recording maybe automatically halted once the maximum video length (as specified intime) is reached.

Referring to FIG. 18F, once the user has completed recording the videoreview (e.g., as indicated by the user activating the stop recordingcontrol), the user may activate a post control to post the recorded via,or review the video by activating a preview control, or retake the videoby activating a retake control (which will optionally cause thepreviously recorded video to be deleted (e.g., functionally deleted)from memory).

Referring to FIG. 18G, in this example, the user has activated the “linkto video” control. Next, the example user interface illustrated in FIG.18H is presented. A field is provided via which the user can enter alink to the video review (e.g., a uniform resource locator (URL)), whichmay then be saved in memory. Once the user enters the link, the user mayactivate a “continue” control. Referring to FIG. 18I, the user canpreview the linked to video review via the illustrated user interface byactivating a “preview” control, and activate a “post” control to postthe video review.

Referring to FIG. 18J, in this example, the user has activated the“upload” control, and the user may upload a preexisting video reviewstored on the user's terminal (or local to the user's terminal).

An example tagging process will now be described with reference toexample user interfaces that may be provided for display on a userterminal (e.g., desktop, laptop, tablet, phone, interactive television,etc.). User inputs may be received by a remote system (e.g., the postingsystem), and data provided by the user may be stored and utilized by thesystem as discussed herein. Referring to FIG. 16A, a video reviewprovided by a user is presented in association with a play/pausecontrol, and a scrubber area including a scrubber control and timeline.An “add a product” control is provided, which when activated by theuser, causes a tag or other indicator to be stored in association withthe current point in the video review being displayed and/or the currentposition of the scrubber control in the timeline. This tag or otherindicating may be used by the system to indicate the beginning point ofthe item review within the video review. The user may drag the scrubbercontrol to a desired position to quickly scan the video to visuallylocate the beginning of an item review. An edit control (e.g., a pencilicon) may be provided, which when activate causes an edit user interfaceto be presented, such as the user interface illustrated in FIG. 16B.

Referring to FIG. 16B, a user interface is provided via which the usercan enter and edit descriptive details for the video review, which maybe saved as metadata in association with the video review. For example,a field may be provided via which the user can enter and edit a titlefor the video review. The user may select a frame from the video reviewto act as a representative frame for the video review. For example, afreeze frame field is provided which statically displays a frame fromthe video review. Forward and reverse controls are provided via whichthe user can advance (e.g., on a frame by frame basis) the video reviewin the freeze frame field. When the user views a frame that the userwants to use as a representative frame for the video review, the usermay select that frame (e.g., by clicking on the frame, activating aselect frame control, activating a “save video details” control, orotherwise). Optionally, the user may upload an image (or a link to animage) that is to be used as a representative frame. Optionally, thevideo review title and/or the representative frame (e.g., in athumbnail, reduced size version) may be displayed in search results thatinclude the video review. Once the user has finalized the title andidentified the representative image for the video review, the user mayactivate the “save video details” control, and the foregoing is saved insystem memory, and the example user interface illustrated in FIG. 16Cmay be provided for display to the user. Optionally, in addition to orinstead of the user providing descriptive information, such as an itemreview title or a name of the item being reviewed, the system mayperform an automatic detection process that analyzes one or more framesin the item review and/or representative image, and performs an imageanalyses to identify the item being reviewed. The system may then addcorresponding descriptive detail text, which may be displayed via thevideo player in association with the item review.

The example interface illustrated in FIG. 16C enables the user to addmetadata with respect to the video review, and in particular, for agiven item review within the video review. In this example, fields areprovided via which the user can provide details regarding the item beingreviewed. For example, a brand name field may be provided via which theuser can enter a brand name of the item. A product name field may beprovided view which the user can enter the item name (which may be atrademark name and/or a descriptive name). A product category field maybe provided (e.g. as a drop down menu) via which the user can select,enter or otherwise specify the product category to which the itembelongs (e.g., clothing, makeup, jewelry, electronics, accessories,etc.). Fields for receiving other metadata may be provided as well. Forexample, fields may optionally be provided for receiving the name of themerchant at which the item was purchased, the retail price of the item,the price paid for the item, the item color, the item size, etc.

As similarly discussed above with respect to FIG. 16B, a freeze framefield is provided which statically displays a frame from the videoreview. Forward and reverse controls are provided via which the user canadvance (e.g., on a frame by frame basis) the video review in the freezeframe field. When the user views a frame from the item review, includedwithin the video review, that the user wants to use as a representativeframe for the item review, the user may select that frame as similarlydiscussed above. Once the user has provided the foregoing, the user mayactivate the “save and resume” control, and the user inputs are saved.

Optionally, an upload user interface, such as that illustrated in FIG.16D, may be provided which enables the user to upload or link to animage of the item being reviewed, to be used as a representative framefor the item review, which the user may cause to be saved by activatingthe “save and resume” control.

Referring to the example user interface illustrated in FIG. 16E, theuser interface presents the video review to the user including some orall of the information provided by the user via the user interfacesdiscussed above. For example, the representative image and video reviewtitle may be displayed adjacent to (or overlaying) the video reviewplayback area. The representative item image and/or item name may bedisplayed in the scrubber area. The user causes the system to post thevideo review on one or social networking sites by activating arespective social networking control provided via the user interface.

The user may add information regarding additional item reviews includedin the video review by activating the “add product” control illustratedin FIG. 16E. If the user activates the “add product” control, the usermay provide the item review information for an additional item reviewusing, optionally the corresponding interfaces discussed above (e.g.,the interfaces illustrated in FIGS. 16C-16D). As the user “adds aproduct” (e.g., by providing the information for a corresponding itemreview), the item review product name (and/or other identifier, such asthe representative item image), appears in an item review listing menu(e.g., on the left side of the user interface, or other location). Theuser may also edit information for a listed item review. For example,the user may activate the pencil edit control for a corresponding itemreview, and the user interface illustrated in FIG. 16C may be presented,populated with the previously provided item review information from theuser. The user can edit the item review information as desired, and thensave the edits, which will then be reflected in the example userinterface illustrated in FIG. 16E.

FIG. 23A illustrates an example video review player user interface, asit may appear on a native website (e.g., not as an embedded video reviewplayer on a third party website). In this example, a menu (e.g., a list)of item reviews 2302A, included in the video review being played back inplayback area 2304A, is provided for display. There may also be a menuentry for the overall video review. A given item review entry in thelist 2302A may include one or more of the following: an image from theitem review (e.g., a representative image selected as discussed above),an image of the reviewer, the name of the item being reviewed (e.g.,Crochet Yoke Tank), the brand of the item being reviewed, and/or a priceof the item being reviewed. Other or different information may beprovided as well (e.g., the name of the merchant at which the item waspurchased, the color of the item, the size of the item, etc.). Socialnetwork information may be provided as well in association with a givenitem review entry and for the overall video review. For example, thenumber of views, wants, and comments may be displayed in associationwith an entry (see, e.g., social information 2306A) and/or the videoreview overall.

In addition, with reference to FIG. 23A, a control 2308A may be providedvia which the user can indicate that the user wants the item in a givenentry, does not want the item, or already owns the item. A control 2310Amay be provided via which the user can provide comments (includingquestions) on the corresponding item or item review. Comments (by theuser and/or other users) associated with the item review displayed inthe playback area 2304A may appear in a comments area 2311A. Assimilarly discussed elsewhere herein, the displayed comments may besynchronized to correspond with the item review being displayed in theplayback area 2304A.

A timeline of the video review 2312A may be provided which displays, insequence, identifiers corresponding to some or all of the item reviewsincluded in the video review (e.g., a representative item review image,a product name, etc.). The timeline may be associated with a scrubbercontrol which the user can move to a desired location in the timeline,which will then be reflected in the video playback area 2304A, assimilarly discussed above. Optionally, a user may go directly to an itemreview by clicking on an item review entry in the list area 2302 and/orin the timeline. Metadata 2314A related to the item review being shownin playback area 2304A may be presented in overlay fashion over thevideo review and/or elsewhere. For example, the metadata may include therepresentative image for the item review, the product name, the name ofthe user (which may be the user's actual name, a user ID or otheralias), and/or other information. Play and pause controls may beprovided. Optionally, other controls, such as fast forward, reverse,and/or fast reverse controls may be provided as well. A control may beprovided enabling the user to record her own review for the item in theitem review being displayed and/or for another item.

Controls 2316A may be provided via which the user may purchase the itemin the item review being displayed, poll their friends regarding theitem in the item review being displayed, indicate that the user wantsthe item in the item review being displayed, and/or share the itemreview with others (e.g., via email, SMS, MMS, social networks, blogs,microblogs, and/or otherwise), as similarly discussed in greater detailelsewhere herein. The user interface may also display related reviewsthe user can view in a related reviews area 2318A.

FIG. 23B illustrates another user interface, similar to that illustratedin FIG. 23A, as it may appear when the video review player is embeddedon a non-native networked site (e.g., a third party website, ineditorial content or in an advertisement, such as in a webpage bannerad). Optionally, the user interface may be initially displayed to avisiting user in an open state, such as that illustrated in FIG. 23B, orthere may be a much smaller “watch the review” control, which whenactivated by a visiting users, causes the user interface to be displayedon the site, editorial content, or an advertisement.

FIG. 23C illustrates another user interface as it may appear when avideo player, incorporating some or all the features discussed herein,is embedded on a non-native networked site (e.g., a third party websiteor application, in editorial content or in an advertisement, such as ina webpage banner ad) or a native networked site. The video contentplayed by the video player may be provided by, and accessed from one ormore of the systems described above (e.g., from the system that providesthe user interface configured for one or more of the following:providing or accessing comments, for purchasing an item, for indicatingto other users that the user wants or likes an item, for recording avideo review, for enabling users to poll others to obtain feedbackregarding an item, for sharing content, etc.). The video content may beprovided from a source different than the system that provides the userinterface discussed above and different than the system hosting the userinterface for display to users. For example, the content may be providedby one or more third party sites such as YouTube®, Vimeo®, and/or othersite, which may be accessed via an application programming interface(API) or otherwise. Optionally, the user interface does not obscuremessaging including, but not limited to logos and/or advertisements,included in association with the content from the third party site(e.g., some or all of the user interface controls do not hover over thevideo content being played). Thus, for example, the user interface maybe configured as a frame that is positioned adjacent to or over one ormore sides of the content being played, optionally without blockingadvertisements provided by the third party providing the third partycontent (e.g., where the advertisements are embedded in video content orimmediately adjacent to the video content). Therefore, certainembodiments advantageously enable and provide enhanced features (e.g.,providing or accessing comments, for purchasing an item, for indicatingto other users that the user wants or likes an item, for recording avideo review, for enabling users to poll others to obtain feedbackregarding an item, for sharing content, etc.) for third party content,optionally without blocking or obscuring advertisements provided by thethird party with respect to the third party content, and optionallywithout violating terms of service for accessing and utilizing contentfrom the third party site.

In the example illustrated in FIG. 23C, the user interface, includingthe play/pause control, the scrubber (optionally with images of productsdisplayed in the scrubber area), a volume control, and maximize screencontrol, a record control (enabling the viewer to record a video), a“buy this item” control, a “want” control, a “poll friends” control, anda “share” control, is positioned below the video content area. Inaddition, in this example, an information display (with the name of aproduct being reviewed, the retailer from which it was purchased, andthe name of the reviewer) overlays the video content area.

Tags and other data (such as discussed above) may be associated withvideo content from the content hosting system and stored on a systemremote from the content hosting system (e.g., the system illustrated inFIG. 2). For example, the remote system operator or other user may add avideo hosted on a third party content hosting system to a searchableindex/directory of product reviews. The operator, other user, or anautomated system may associate tags (e.g., words or phrases identifyingbrand, model, size, color, visual traits, functional specifications,uses, and other descriptive text) and a locator (e.g., a URL, a uniqueidentifier, a uniform product code (UPC), and/or otherlocation/identification information) with the video from the third partyhosting site. Thus, at least a portion of the tags are optionallyaccessed from a source different than the third party content hostingsystem.

Then, when a user wants to access the video via the remote system (e.g.,by clicking on a link in a directory of item reviews or in searchresults provided in response to a user query and displayed on the user'sterminal), the system utilizes the associated locator to cause the videoto stream from the third party content hosting site to the user'sterminal to be displayed in a video player. The associated tags areretrieved by the remote system and some or all are appropriatelydisplayed on the user terminal in association with the streamed video.As similarly discussed above, optionally, the video player userinterface (optionally including a “buy this item” control, a “want”control, a “poll friends” control, and/or a “share” control) does notobscure messaging including, but not limited to logos and/oradvertisements, included in association with the content from the thirdparty site. The user can activate a given user interface control, andthe system with detect the activation and perform the respectivefunction as similarly described above.

As similarly noted above, the user interface may offer interstitialadvertisements between items reviews in the same video file. Theinterstitial advertisements may optionally be selected by a remotesystem (such as that described elsewhere herein) using informationobtained my monitoring a user's viewing history (which may be reportedby a program executed by the user terminal or by monitoring contentrequests received over a network from the user interface) and/or auser's profile. For example, the advertisements may be selected based atleast in part on the content/tags of the video review the user has justwatched (e.g., where the advertisement is selected so as to be relatedor similar to an item reviewed in the video review), is just about towatch, on user profile and/or other historical viewing information, orotherwise. For example, if the user has just watched a video review fora blouse and the user is within a certain age range (e.g., as determinedfrom user profile information), the system may select an advertisementand/or another review for a similar and/or complementary item (e.g.,another blouse or a related product such as a belt, a scarf, etc.), inthis example blouses geared for people within a certain age range.

One or more interstitial advertisements may be displayed at the sametime and/or one or more items may be included in a given interstitialadvertisement. The interstitial advertisement may be displayed in thevideo content area, in a pop-up window overlaying/obscuring the videocontent area, or elsewhere. A given interstitial advertisement mayoptionally include a user-selectable link or other reference to one ormore reviews for an item in the advertisement. Upon detecting that theuser has selected the link, the user interface may access (e.g., from aremote server) the corresponding video review of the item in theadvertisement, which may then be displayed to the user. The interstitialadvertisement may be displayed for a predetermined amount of time if theuser does not select the review link in the advertisement. If thepredetermined amount of time expires without the user selecting a reviewlink (or optionally one or more other controls included in theadvertisement), the video player may automatically begin playing thenext review in the original video file. A timer (e.g., a countdowntimer) may be provided indicating to the user how long until the nextreview in the original video file will begin playing. Optionally, thetimer may be displayed in association with the name of the reviewer anda title for the next review (e.g., obtained from a tag provided inassociation with the next review). Optionally, an advertisement skipcontrol may be provided on the advertisement or elsewhere, which whenactivated by the user causes the next review in the original video fileto be displayed prior to the timer counting down to zero. If, however,the user selects a review link in the interstitial advertisement, then avideo review for the advertised item may be displayed in the videocontent area or elsewhere prior to the timer counting down to zero.

Referring to FIG. 27, another example user interface is illustrated,with an interstitial advertisement showing 4 different outfits beingworn by models. Each outfit is associated with a control (e.g., a link)that enables the user to watch one or more video reviews of thecorresponding outfit being advertised. The system may optionallydetermine how may reviews are available for the outfit (or a particularitem on the outfit) from one or more sources, and provides a numberindicating the quantity of available reviews to the user via the userinterface, optionally in association with the control for initiatingdisplay/playback of the video review(s). Optionally, a control isprovided in association with each outfit, which when activated causesthe user interface to display additional information about the outfit(e.g., name of brand, cost, materials, available colors, availablesizes, etc.) and/or to purchase the outfit. Of course other types ofitems may be advertised (e.g., electronics, movies, cars, furniture,etc.).

Optionally, user activations of the foregoing user interface controlsare processed by a system different than the system providing the userinterface. For example, when a user activates a given control (e.g., the“buy this item”), the hosting system routes an indication of theactivation to a remote system (e.g., the system whose operator providedthe user interface to the hosting system). The remote system may processthe activation as similarly discussed above in the examples where thesame system that hosted the user interface and video content. Forexample, the remote system may process the purchase request for the itemassociated with the “buy this item” control.

In addition, the remote system may optionally perform analytics andtracking with respect to such control activations. For example, theremote system may track and keep a record of some or all of thefollowing: which controls were activated and how many times they wereactivated, what content was being displayed when the controls wereactivated, when the controls were activated, which purchase requestsresulted in a completed purchase, how many item purchases were made,which items where purchased, how many times users indicated they wantedan item in a video, how many polls were created, what the poll resultswere, how many times a given video item was played, how many times agiven video item was shared, etc.

The remote system may calculate relevant statistics, such as whatpercentage of “buy” control activations resulted in a sale, timedistributions of when controls are activated, the percentage of usersthat liked a particular reviewed item or did not like a particularreviewed item, the average number of activations of a control for agiven time of day, etc. Optionally, the site hosting the user interfacemay be able to opt out of having the information tracked by the remotesystem (e.g., for privacy purposes).

The remote system may provide an analytics dashboard to the operator ofthe site hosting the user interface (or other designated recipient),that will display some or all of the analytics information.

When the video review is displayed via an advertisement or in-line witheditorial content, optionally initially an image corresponding to thevideo review may be presented in the advertisement or editorial content,adjacent to and in conjunction with advertisement/editorial text and/orimage(s) separate from the image corresponding to the video review. Theimage corresponding to the video review may have been provided orselected by the video review author, or by another entity, such as theadvertiser or editorial content provider. Optionally, the imagecorresponding to the video review is not an image from the video review.A video playback control may be displayed in association with the imagecorresponding to the video review (e.g., overlaying or adjacent to theimage), which when selected by the viewer, causes the video played to beactivated. For example, the video player optionally may pop up over theadvertisement/editorial content, obscuring some or all of theadvertisement/editorial content.

The video player may optionally provide a single video including reviewsof multiple items reviewed by the same person, or the video player mayprovide different reviewers reviewing the same and/or different items.Optionally, the video review may include a single item review. The userinterface may include some or all of the functionality described abovewith respect to FIG. 23A. Optionally instead, when the video player isin embedded form, certain functionality may not be provided or present.For example, optionally, the item review listing 2302A, the relatedreviews area 2318A, and/or the comments area 2311A may optionally beomitted. The video player optionally displays a scrubber area includinga scrubber, or optionally does not display a scrubber area including ascrubber. Optionally, a record review control is provided in associationwith the video player as similarly discussed elsewhere herein. Forexample, if the user activates the record control the user may record anew video review of the item included in the item review presented tothe user, or of another item in the video review, or an item notincluded in the video review. Optionally, the user may be provided witha user interface enabling the user to add titles, tags and/or itemdetail information to the video review as similarly discussed elsewhereherein. Optionally, the user may be instructed to only include one itemreview in the recorded video review, and optionally the ability toindicate start positions for item reviews within the video review may bedisabled or not provided to further encourage the user not to includemultiple item reviews in the video review.

The video player and/or a remote system with which the video playercommunicates, may monitor and track a user's interactions with the videoplayer and with other users via the video player, and store and reportsuch information (e.g., to an advertiser or a representative or agentthereof) to provide analytics regarding items being reviewed and userinteraction processes. Such analytics may be used to better identifytarget audiences for advertisements and to better focus advertisementcampaigns. Thus, such an embedded (or native) video player may driveuser traffic to brand sites (e.g., websites) to purchase items beingreviewed or other items from the brand, enables users to share iteminformation with their friends, promoting virality and enabling thecollection of consumer insights regarding items.

FIG. 24 illustrates an example process including utilization of a nativevideo player. The process begins at state 2402. At state 2404, areviewer uploads from a reviewer terminal a video review, including oneor more item reviews, and provides associated metadata (e.g., tags anddetail information), as similarly discussed above. Optionally, the usermay record a new review via a webcam, camcorder, or otherwise. At state2406, the video review is stored on a remote system (e.g., of a postingsystem server). At state 2406, the video review is displayed to anotheruser via a video player. For example, the video review may have beendiscovered by the user as a result of a user review search requestsubmitted to the remote system and returned in search results, thereview may be displayed within an advertisement, such as a banner ad, orthe video review may have been presented to the user as part of a feed.

At state 2410, the user may interact with the video player. The videoplayer enables the user indicate (e.g., via one or more controls) thatthe user wants the item 2414, wants to initiate a purchase of the item2414, wants to share the video review or a subset thereof (e.g., an itemreview) with others 2416, wants to poll others regarding the item beingreviewed 2418, and/or wants to record a review (e.g., of the item in thecurrent review and/or of another item) 2420. If the user indicates thatthe user wants to record another review, the process proceeds back tostate 2406. If the user indicates that the user wants to initiate apoll, the process may proceed to state 2422, and the remote system orvideo player transmits the video review (and optionally, just the itemreview contained in the video review, where the video review includesmultiple item reviews) and/or a link to the video review, to one or moreother users for polling (e.g., other users specified by the user, otherusers networked to the user via one or more social networking sites,other users in the user's contact database, and/or otherwise).

At state 2424, the results are received from the users that responded tothe poll are tabulated (e.g., added up to determine how may usersindicated they like the item, how many indicated they dislike the item,and/or how many indicated are indifferent or have no opinion regardingthe item). The results, including the tabulation, may be transmitted toand presented to the user that initiated the poll via the user'sterminal. At state 2426, the poll results may also be transmitted to,and received by, another system, such as that of an advertiser, retailenterprise, and/or manufacturer. At state 2428, the receiving system maystore the poll results and perform analytics on the results. Optionally,the poll results may include demographics (which may have been obtainedfor a social network of which they are a member, and may include suchinformation as gender, age, income, education, relationship status(e.g., single, married, divorced, in a relationship, etc.)) of pollrespondents in association with their poll response, to furtherfacilitate the performance of analytics (e.g., to determinecharacteristics of those that liked, disliked, or are indifferent to theitem being reviewed).

An example review aggregation process will now be described with respectto a merchant of the item(s), a manufacturer of the item(s), or otherentity (e.g., a media company which has properties that provideeditorial and/or advertising content) related to items being reviewed.Such entities may have a networked site via which the item reviews canbe accessed. User video reviews and advertisements (e.g., advertisementsrelated to item(s) being reviewed) may be aggregated at a central ordistributed system. A user interface may be provided via which theentity may rate a given item review, categorize a given item review forappropriate use (e.g., for publication, for selective publication oncertain sites and not on other sites, for in-edit publication and/orin-ad publication, for research and not for publication, etc.). By wayof example, the commerce-enabled video player and/or video reviews (andother content, such as tutorials on the user of the commerce enabledvideo player and user instructions on generating item reviews) may belicensed. By way of example, a media company could use such reviewcontent and the commerce enabled video player to make their properties(e.g., websites, applications, etc.) more attractive to advertisers andmay enable such media company to charge advertisers relatively higheradvertising rates.

FIGS. 19A-B illustrates an example item review provided via an in-edit.The video review may be similarly presented via an advertisement. Assimilarly discussed above, and as illustrated in FIG. 19A, an imagecorresponding to the video review may be presented in the advertisementor editorial content, adjacent to and in conjunction withadvertisement/editorial text and/or image(s) separate from the imagecorresponding to the video review. Optionally, the image correspondingto the video review is not an image from the video review. A videoplayback control may be displayed in association with the imagecorresponding to the video review (e.g., overlaying image in thisexample), which when selected by the viewer, causes the video player tobe activated. For example, the video player optionally may pop up overthe advertisement/editorial content, obscuring some or all of theadvertisement/editorial content, as illustrated in FIG. 19B. Optionallyinstead, the video player may be presented in-line with theadvertisement, without obscuring advertisement text. As similarlydiscussed above, the video player may include controls via which theuser can indicate that the user wants the item, wants to initiate apurchase of the item, wants to share the video review with others, wantsto poll others regarding the item being reviewed, and/or wants to recorda review (e.g., of the item in the current review and/or of anotheritem). In this example, a scrubber is provided, including representativeimages corresponding to item reviews included in the video review. Theuser may jump to a given item review by selecting a correspondingrepresentative image, as similarly discussed above. The video reviewauthor and title of the video review (as well as of item reviews) may bepresented as well via the video player.

FIG. 25 illustrates an example process including utilization of anembedded video player, which may be displayed on a third party website,such as within editorial content (e.g., of an online magazine) or withinan advertisement (e.g., a banner ad or otherwise). At state 2502, areviewer uploads from a reviewer terminal a video review, including oneor more item reviews, and associated metadata (e.g., tags and detailinformation) as similarly discussed above. At state 2504 the reviewermay instead record a new review (e.g., via a webcam or camcorder, assimilarly discussed elsewhere herein). At state 2506, the video isstored on a remote system (e.g., of a posting system server). At state2510, the review content and the video player 2508 is provided (oraccess thereto is provided) to a third party publisher. At states 2512,2514 the third party publisher publishes the video player and thecontent in conjunction with editorial content (e.g., on a websitemagazine) and/or in an advertisement (which may be presented on awebpage), which users may then view via user terminals.

At state 2514, the user may interact with the video player as similarlydiscussed above with respect to FIG. 24. For example, the video playermay enable the user indicate (e.g., via one or more controls) the userwants the item, wants to initiate a purchase of the item, wants to sharethe video review or a subset thereof (e.g., an item review) with others,wants to poll others regarding the item being reviewed, and/or wants torecord a review (e.g., of the item in the current review and/or ofanother item). If the user indicates that the user wants to initiate apoll, the process may proceed as similarly discussed above with respectto FIG. 24.

If the user indicates that the user wants to record a new video review2516, the process proceeds to states 2518 (where the user records areview for an item not included in the video review being viewed by theuser), 2520 (where the user records a review for a different itemincluded in the video review being viewed by the user), or 2522 (wherethe user records a review for the item whose review is currentlydisplayed to the user). The process may then prompt the user to addmetadata, such as tags and/or other item details, to the review, assimilarly discussed elsewhere herein. Optionally, the user may beinstructed to only include one item review in the recorded video review,and optionally the ability to indicate start positions for item reviewswithin the video review may be disabled or not provided.

At state 2524, the new review may optionally be reviewed by the thirdparty publisher and/or other entity, as similarly discussed elsewhereherein, and/or may be used for research and development purposes and/orto better focus future advertising. If approved for publishing, thereview may then be published by the third party publisher, optionally inconjunction with editorial content, an advertisement, and/or otherwise.

Certain embodiments provide location based services. Certain embodimentsmay determine a substantially current location of a user. For example,the user location may be determined from information transmitted by amobile device being carried by the user. The mobile device may be asmart phone, a mobile entertainment device, a GPS enabled watch, orother device. The location information may be GPS-based, WiFi-based,and/or cell tower-based location information. The location informationmay be manually provided by the user (e.g., by entering in an address,selecting a corresponding contact record in a contact record data store,by checking in at a location, etc.). The location information may betransmitted via an application downloaded and installed on the user'smobile device to a remote system, such as the posting system, or may bepreinstalled on the mobile device.

Based at least in part on the user's location, the system may determinewhich merchants are within a specified distance or vicinity of theuser's location (e.g., within 30 meters, 100 meters, 500 meters, orother distance). The system may further determine what items and/ortypes of items are sold by merchants within the specified distance. Thesystem may determine whether the system has access to video reviews(e.g., consumer generated video reviews) corresponding to one or moreitems and/or types of items sold by merchants within the specifieddistance. The system may then transmit to the user mobile device (e.g.,to an application installed on the mobile device), one or more of theidentified item video reviews (and/or links to such reviews), and mayfurther transmit to the mobile device merchant referral informationindicating which merchants sell or may sell the item, optionally inassociation with addresses of such merchants and/or directions from theuser's location to such merchants.

Optionally, the system may further provide discount coupons or codeswhich can be applied to the purchase of the item at some or all of theidentified merchants. Optionally, the merchants pay a fee to the systemoperator for such referral services and/or the merchants may pay a feeto the system operator for purchases made by users referred to themerchants. Optionally, when the user is close to (e.g., within aspecified distance or area) and/or enters the merchant's establishment,the application installed on the user's mobile device (e.g., smartphone) may automatically prompt the user (via sound, text, and/orgraphic alert) to view a review of an item the user has indicated theywant or like and/or present a review (or notify the user regarding thereview) based at least in part on the user's demographic information.The user may be presented with incentives, such as discounts, prior toand/or in response to entering the merchant's establishment. The usermay also be provided incentives if the user records a review of anitem(s) at the merchant's establishment. The review may be of thereviewed item or other item(s) at the merchant. Optionally, the user maymanually access the application in order to record such a review. Thereview may be uploaded and tagged as similarly discussed above. In thismanner, the viewing of a given review by a user leads to the userrecording additional reviews, further expanding the amount of reviewcontent available to users.

Optionally, the user's friends or other contacts (e.g., as identified bythe user on a social networking site) may be notified when the userenters a given merchant's establishment and/or makes a purchase at agiven merchant's establishment. The notification may be transmitted inresponse to a manual indication provided by the user via the user'smobile device application (e.g., via a user interface) that the user hasentered a given merchant's establishment and/or made a purchase at agiven merchant's establishment. The notification may in addition orinstead be transmitted in response to the system or the mobile deviceapplication detecting that the user has entered a given merchant'sestablishment (e.g., based on GPS, WiFi, cell tower-based, and/or otherlocation information) and/or made a purchase at a given merchant'sestablishment. The notification may be posted on the user's socialnetwork page and/or transmitted to the user's friends (or othercontacts) via email, SMS message, or otherwise.

While certain embodiments may have been discussed with reference to thereviews of items, such as products and services, certain of foregoingfunctionalities may be applied to other uses, such as online dating. Forexample, if a user provides a dating service with profile information ofthe user and/or of the traits desired by the user in a potential match,a dating system may utilize such information to identify other users whomay be potential matches. If the potential matches are associated withvideo content, such as a potential match describing his or herself(e.g., a “self-review”), the dating system may assemble the videocontent for the plurality of potential matches into a single video file,with representative images included or identified corresponding torespective potential match videos. The representative image may includean image of the potential match.

The video file may be displayed via the video player, and some or all ofthe representative images may be displayed in the video player scrubberarea. The user can select a given image in the scrubber area, and thecorresponding portion of the video file will then be played back to theuser, skipping over preceding video portions of other potential matches.Optionally, if a user selects an image, the user can indicate that theyare interested in the corresponding potential match, and/or theapplication will navigate to an online dating site associated with thedating service, enabling the user to learn more about the potentialmatch and/or to arrange a meeting with the potential match.

Thus, example systems and methods are described for collecting anddistributing user generated video reviews, for polling users withrespect to reviewed items, and for enabling users to indicate that theywant an item in a video review.

Certain embodiments may be implemented via hardware, software stored onmedia, or a combination of hardware and software. For example, certainembodiments may include software/program instructions/modules stored ontangible, non-transitory computer-readable medium (e.g., magneticmemory/discs, optical memory/discs, RAM, ROM, FLASH memory, othersemiconductor memory, etc.), accessible by one or more computing devicesconfigured to execute the software (e.g., servers or other computingdevice including one or more processors, wired and/or wireless networkinterfaces (e.g., cellular, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, T1, DSL, cable, optical,or other interface(s) which may be coupled to the Internet), contentdatabases, customer account databases, etc.). Data stores (e.g.,databases) may be used to store some or all of the information discussedherein in memory.

By way of example, a given computing device may optionally include userinterface devices, such as some or all of the following: one or moredisplays, keyboards, touch screens, speakers, microphones, mice, trackballs, touch pads, tilt sensors, accelerometers, biometric sensors(e.g., fingerprint or face recognition sensors for authenticating auser) printers, etc. The computing device may optionally include a mediaread/write device, such as a CD, DVD, Blu-ray, tape, magnetic disc,semiconductor memory, or other optical, magnetic, and/or solid statemedia device. A computing device, such as a user terminal, may be in theform of a general purpose computer, a personal computer, a laptop, atablet computer, a mobile or stationary telephone, an interactivetelevision, a set top box coupled to a display, etc. Certain embodimentsmay be able to conduct hundreds (or more) of transactions and processesdescribed herein a second.

While certain embodiments may be illustrated or discussed as havingcertain example components, additional, fewer, or different componentsmay be used. Transmissions described herein may be via a wired and/orwireless network or other communications link. Further, with respect tothe processes discussed herein, various states may be performed in adifferent order, not all states are required to be reached, and fewer,additional, or different states may be utilized.

User interfaces described herein are optionally presented (and userinstructions may be received) via a user computing device using abrowser, other network resource viewer, or otherwise. For example, theuser interfaces may be presented (and user optionally instructionsreceived) via an application (sometimes referred to as an “app”)installed on the user's mobile phone, laptop, pad, desktop, television,set top box, phone, or other terminal. Various features described orillustrated as being present in different embodiments or user interfacesmay be combined into the same embodiment or user interface. Whilecertain examples may refer to a website or web page, other networkedresources and other types of document may be used, which may or may notuse web standards to provide and/or receive information andinstructions. While certain functionality may be described with respectto a mobile phone application, the same or similar functionality may beprovided via other interfaces, such as a browser (optionally usingbrowser plug-in), a camera equipped kiosk, or otherwise. Similarly,while certain functionality may be described with respect to a browser,similar or the same functionality may be provided via a dedicated app, acamera equipped kiosk, or otherwise.

While various features and advantages of the present invention have beendescribed and illustrated in detail, it is to be understood by thoseskilled in the art that many modifications to the various embodimentsherein can be made without departing from the spirit of the invention.

What is claimed is:
 1. A system for controlling playback of video files, comprising: at least one processing device; a network interface configured to communicate over a network with a video data store; non-transitory memory storing programmatic code that when executed by the at least one processing device, cause the system to perform operations comprising: access, over a network using the network interface, a first video file from the video data store, the first video file comprising at least a first plurality of segments, wherein the first video file is compressed using a VP or MPEG format; receive over the network using the network interface, a first plurality of images, wherein a given image in the first plurality of images is associated with a respective segment in the first plurality of segments of the first video file and comprises an image of a product that corresponds to a product displayed in the respective segment of the first video file, the first plurality of images comprising a first image that is not an image from the first video file; cause the first plurality of images to be displayed on a first user device at the same time in association with a playback of the first video file, for at least a portion of the time the first video file is being played back in a playback area of a video player, wherein the first plurality of images associated with respective segments in the first video file is displayed in the playback area, overlaying the playback of the first video file; change the display of images in the first plurality of images as different segments in the first video file is played back; cause a corresponding navigation event to occur at least partly in response to detecting that a user has selected the first image in the first plurality of images associated with respective segments in the first video file and displayed at the same time in the playback area overlaying the playback of the first video file.
 2. The system as defined in claim 1, the operations further comprising: limit a size of the first video file to no greater than a first specified number of gigabytes.
 3. The system as defined in claim 1, the operations further comprising: prevent posting of a video having a resolution below a first threshold.
 4. The system as defined in claim 1, wherein the corresponding navigation event comprises causing the playback of the first video file to jump to a segment of the first video file corresponding to the first image.
 5. The system as defined in claim 1, wherein the corresponding navigation event comprises causing a navigation to a website corresponding to the first image.
 6. The system as defined in claim 1, wherein the first video file comprises a plurality of product reviews, wherein a first segment of the first video file corresponds to a product review of a first product, and a second segment of the first video file corresponds to a product review of a second product, and the first image is an image of the first product depicted in the first segment, but the first image is not from the first segment, wherein the first image is displayed in the playback area, overlaying the playback of the first video file, in association with a text product tag.
 7. The system as defined in claim 1, the operations further comprising: display at a first location spaced apart from the first plurality of images and overlaying at least a portion of the playback area, a first still image corresponding to a first product segment currently being played back; and display a second still image of a second product, in place of the first still image, when a second product segment is currently being played back.
 8. The system as defined in claim 1, the operations further comprising: provide a timeline user interface for display on a second user device; and enable the timeline user interface to be utilized in associating the first plurality of images with respective segments in the first plurality of segments of the first video file.
 9. A system for controlling playback of video files, comprising: at least one processing device; a network interface configured to communicate over a network with a video data store; non-transitory memory storing programmatic code that when executed by the at least one processing device, cause the system to perform operations comprising: receive, over a network using the network interface, a first video; store an association of a given image in a first plurality of images with a respective segment in a first plurality of segments of the first video, the first plurality of images comprising: a first image associated with a first segment of the first video; and a second image associated with a second segment of the first video, wherein the first image and the second image are not an image from the first video; cause at least the first image and the second image to be displayed on a first user device at the same time in association with a playback of the first video, for at least a portion of the time the first video is being played back in a playback area of a content player, wherein the first image and the second image, associated with respective first and second segments in the first video, are displayed at the same time in the playback area, overlaying the playback of the first video, and the display of the first image and the second image are changed during playback of the second segment, relative to the display of the first image and the second image during playback of the first segment; cause a first navigation event to occur at least partly in response to a detection that a user has selected the first image, the first image associated with the first segment and displayed at the same time as the second image in the playback area overlaying the playback of the first video; cause a second navigation event to occur at least partly in response to a detection that a user has selected the second image, the second image associated with the second segment and displayed at the same time as the first image in the playback area overlaying the playback of the first video.
 10. The system as defined in claim 9, wherein the first video is compressed using a VP or MPEG format.
 11. The system as defined in claim 9, the operations further comprising: limit a size of the first video to no greater than a first specified size.
 12. The system as defined in claim 9, wherein the first video is stored on a data store and the content player is accessed via a social networking site remote from a data store from which the first video is accessed.
 13. The system as defined in claim 9, wherein the first navigation event comprises causing the playback of the first video to jump to the first segment of the first video corresponding to the first image.
 14. The system as defined in claim 9, wherein the first navigation event comprises causing a navigation to a website corresponding to the first image.
 15. The system as defined in claim 9, wherein the first navigation event comprises causing a corresponding user interface to be displayed.
 16. The system as defined in claim 9, the operations further comprising: display at a first location spaced apart from the first image and the second image and overlaying at least a portion of the playback area, a third image associated with the first segment being played back; and display at the first location spaced apart from the first image and the second image, a fourth image in place of the first still image, when the second segment is being played back.
 17. The system as defined in claim 9, the operations further comprising: display at a first location spaced apart from the first image and the second image and overlaying at least a portion of the playback area, a first text associated with the first segment being played back; and display at the first location spaced apart from the first image and the second image, a second text in place of the first text, when the second segment is being played back.
 18. The system as defined in claim 9, the operations further comprising: provide a timeline user interface for display on a second user device; and enable the timeline user interface to be utilized in associating the first plurality of images with respective segments in the first plurality of segments of the first video.
 19. The system as defined in claim 9, the operations further comprising: provide a search interface enabling a user to search for video operations by at least brand, model, or color.
 20. A system, comprising: at least one processing device; a network interface configured to communicate over a network with a video data store; non-transitory memory storing programmatic code that when executed by the at least one processing device, cause the system to perform operations comprising: receive, over a network using the network interface, a first video; store an association of a given image in a first plurality of images with a respective segment in the first plurality of segments of the first video, the first plurality of images comprising: a first image that is not an image from the first video, the first image associated with a first segment of the first video; a second image that is not an image from the first video, the second image associated with a second segment of the first video cause at least the first image and the second image to be displayed via a dedicated mobile device application on a first user mobile device in association with a playback of the first video, for at least a portion of the time the first video is being played back in a playback area of the dedicated mobile device application, wherein the first image, associated with the first segment, and the second image, associated with the second segment, are displayed in the playback area, overlaying the playback of the first video and the display of the first image and the second image are changed during playback of the second segment, relative to the display of the first image and the second image during playback of the first segment, and wherein the dedicated mobile device application causes a first navigation event to occur at least partly in response to a user selecting the first image in the playback area overlaying the playback of the first video, and wherein the dedicated mobile device application causes a second navigation event to occur at least partly in response to a user selecting the second image in the playback area overlaying the playback of the first video.
 21. The system as defined in claim 20, the operations further comprising: cause at least one still image associated with the first segment to be displayed at a first location spaced apart from the first plurality of images and overlaying at least a portion of the playback area while the first segment of the first video is being played back; and cause a second still image to be displayed in place of the first still image when the second segment of the first video is being played back.
 22. The system as defined in claim 20, the operations further comprising: provide a timeline user interface for display on a second user device; and enable the timeline user interface to be utilized in associating the first image with the first segment of the first video and the second image with the second segment of the first video.
 23. The system as defined in claim 20, wherein the first video is stored on a data store and the content player is accessed via a social networking site remote from the data store.
 24. The system as defined in claim 20, wherein the first navigation event comprises causing the playback of the first video to jump to the first segment of the first video corresponding to the first image.
 25. The system as defined in claim 20, wherein the first navigation event comprises causing a navigation to a website corresponding to the first image.
 26. A system, comprising: at least one processing device; a network interface configured to communicate over a network with a video data store; non-transitory memory storing programmatic code that when executed by the at least one processing device, cause the system to perform operations comprising: receive, over a network using the network interface, a first video; store an association of a first image not from the first video and/or a first text with a first segment of the first video; store an association of a second image not from the first video and/or a second text with a second segment of the first video; cause the first image and/or the first text to be automatically presented during a playback of the first segment of the first video in a playback area of a video player via a user device, wherein the first image and/or the first text is presented as an overlay in the playback area over the first segment of the first video; cause the second image and/or the second text to be automatically presented in place of the first image and/or the first text during a playback of the second segment of the first video in the playback area of the video player, wherein the second image and/or the second text is presented as an overlay in the playback area over the second segment of the first video; enable a corresponding navigation event to occur at least partly in response to a user selecting: the first image and/or the first text during a playback of the first segment of the first video in the playback area, wherein the first image and/or the first text is presented as an overlay over the first segment of the first video; or the second image and/or the second text during a playback of the second segment of the first video in the playback area, wherein the second image and/or the second text is presented as an overlay over the second segment of the first video.
 27. The system as defined in claim 26, the operations further comprising: provide a timeline user interface for display on a second user device; and enable the timeline user interface to be utilized in associating the first image with the first segment of the first video and the second image with the second segment of the first video.
 28. The system as defined in claim 26, the operations further comprising: store an association of a third image with the first segment of the first video, wherein the third image is not an image from the first video; store an association of a fourth image with the second segment of the first video, wherein the fourth image is not an image from the first video; cause the third image and the fourth image to be displayed at the same time as an overlay on the first video in the playback area while the first video is being played; enable a corresponding navigation event to occur least partly in response to a user selecting the third image or the fourth image.
 29. The system as defined in claim 26, wherein the first navigation event comprises causing a corresponding user interface to be displayed. 